International trade agreements and negotiations. Regional integration and human development. Trade relations between Latin America, the U.S. and the EU. International and Comparative Political Economy.

Die Außenhandelspolitik der Regierung Ortega

by Matthias Ebenau

[2010] Chapter in I. Schnipkoweit & T. Schützhofer (Eds.), Der `neue Sandinismusʼ in Nicaragua. Autoritärer Selbstbedienungsstaat oder neues Entwicklungsmodell? (pp. 89-110). Kassel: One World Perspectives

Caribbean development alternatives and the CARIFORUM–European Union economic partnership agreement

by Matthew Bishop

Journal of International Relations and Development, 2012. Co-authored with Tony Heron and Anthony Payne.

The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed in October 2008 between the Caribbean and the European Union has been... more The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed in October 2008 between the Caribbean and the European Union has been the subject of much controversy. There has been a marked split within the Caribbean between the officials and politicians who negotiated — and thus championed — the EPA and the wider academic and civil society community that subjected it to heavy criticism. The paper examines these debates in detail and situates them within the broader intellectual and practical panorama of Caribbean development alternatives. Specifically, it discusses how the terrain upon which development has been both theorised and practised in the region has narrowed significantly since the 1980s, with the EPA being the latest manifestation of this evolving trend. The paper consequently goes beyond an analysis of the short-term politics of the EPA to elucidate the deeper, structural explanations for the divisions over the EPA between the policy and academic communities and the wider implications of the Agreement for contemporary Caribbean development.

Framework for Economic Development in EU External Relations

by Karolina Podstawa

Volume co-edited with Laura Puccio (EUI)

A tale of parallel integration processes. A gravity analysis of EU trade with Mediterranean and Central and Eastern European Countries

by Francesco Pastore

Co-authored with Anna Maria Ferragina and Giorgia Giovannetti.
Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, 5(2): art. 2 (also available as IZA DP, n. 1829, November)

Despite the EU emphasis on the 1995 Barcelona process, trade integration with the Mediterranean (MED) countries is... more Despite the EU emphasis on the 1995 Barcelona process, trade integration with the Mediterranean (MED) countries is still underdeveloped. To contrast the success of EU integration with MED countries and that with the new EU members, we compute the trade potential of these EU partners from 1995 to 2002 using an "out-of-sample" methodology. The coefficients are taken from different panel estimators of the gravity equation relative to intra-EU trade. Our analysis suggests the existence of sizeable, unexploited trade potential with both groups of partners, although the ratio of potential to actual trade with the MED countries is much larger (from 1.7 to 2.5 times), more dispersed and stable compared to that with the CEECs.

Redefining the" Terms of Trade?" A Brief History of Social Protectionism

by susan aaronson

Unasur: an alternative for integration in the face of emerging international challenges / Unasur: Alternativa de integración frente a desafíos internacionales emergentes

by Florencia Rubiolo

Publisheb in Estudios Internacionales, Instituto de Estudios Internacionales, Universidad de Chile, 2010

This paper aims to analyze the reasons why South America needs to form a regional arena of dialogue before the... more This paper aims to analyze the reasons why South America needs to form a regional arena of dialogue before the challenges that an increasing multipolar world presents. We consider UNASUR as the regional initiative with the greatest possibilities of turning into a forum through which consensus can be reached and common regional stands established. We will focus on the case of the People’s Republic of China because it appears as a real alternative to the United States and the European Union in the commercial and investment fields. At the same time, the size of its economy, allows to think about the insertion of the whole South America, an element that would favor cooperation.

China's Post-Listian Rise: Beyond Radical Globalisation and the Political Economy of Neoliberal Hegemony

by Gerry Strange

Published by the journal New Political Economy. The article is currently available through iFirst.

While China’s rise has been much discussed, its meaning continues to be contested. This is true in radical... more While China’s rise has been much discussed, its meaning continues to be contested. This is true in radical international political economy, where, for example, it was the subject of (often polarised) debates between Giovanni Arrighi and David Harvey prior to Arrighi’s death in 2009. This reflected a broader debate in IPE between development theory and radical globalisation analysis. The key point of contention is whether China’s rise represents a chal- lenge to or further consolidation of neoliberal hegemony on a global scale. This article critically scrutinises some of the key assumptions of the radical globalisa- tion approach, specifically, that China represents another form of the ‘competition state’ whose development aspirations have been radically constrained by global ‘new constitutionalism’ and American monetary power so as to conform to neo- liberalism. Deploying a structurationist approach to global governance and an eclectic/regulatory analysis of the Chinese state, I argue that China has challenged neoliberalism by projecting its growing power through constitutionalised global governance. In the face of (declining) American power, global constitutionalism has provided an opportunity structure that may help China consolidate its long-term strategy of consensual development. Far from anchoring ‘neoliberal hegemony’, global economic governance is increasingly central to its unravelling.