Breaking gridlock: how path dependent layering enhances resilience in global trade governance

Faude, B. (2020) Breaking gridlock: how path dependent layering enhances resilience in global trade governance. Global Policy, 11(4), pp. 448-457. (doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12822)

Abstract

What are the implications of the proliferating preferential trade agreements (PTAs) for the liberal trade order? Many scholars and practitioners see large increases in PTAs as a destabilizing factor that undermines core features of the post-war international trade system. By contrast, this paper argues that the accelerated growth of PTAs since the mid-1990s enhances the resilience of the liberal trade order. PTAs increase the ability of the order to accommodate heterogeneous preferences and distributive conflicts. They represent a continuation of a longer path of liberalization set in motion by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This path-dependent development created conditions for a gradual expansion of the membership and the regulatory scope of the GATT/WTO system, but also heightened levels of preference heterogeneity and distributive conflicts. By enabling groups of states with homogenous preferences to layer new rules on top of the multilateral GATT/WTO system, PTAs enable the continuation of the liberalization path. Consequently, PTAs have served as complements rather than to undermine the WTO.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Faude, Dr Benjamin
• Authors: Faude, B.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Global Policy
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1758-5880
• ISSN (Online): 1758-5899
• Published Online: 29 April 2020
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2020 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Global Policy 11(4):448-457
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license