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A keen analysis of how and why countries bargain together in groups in world affairs, and why such coalitions are crucial to individual developing nations. It also reveals the effects these negotiating blocs are having on world affairs. Successful coalition building has proven to be a difficult and expensive process. Allies are often not obvious and need to be carefully identified. Large numbers do not necessarily entail a proportionate increase in influence. And the weak have the choice of teaming up against or jumping on the bandwagon with the strong. Even after it has been organised, collective action entails costs of many kinds. This book investigates the relevance and workability of coalitions as instruments of bargaining power for the weak. More specifically, this analyzes the coalition strategies of developing countries at the inter-state level, particularly in the context of international trade. Given the nature of this enquiry, this new study uses theoretical and empirical methods to complement each other. The theoretical approach draws from a plethora of writings: formal theories of clubs and coalitions, theories of domestic political economy and theories of international relations. The empirical analysis of comparable coalitions becomes necessary to assist in this theorising, so the greater part of the book focuses mainly (though not exclusively) on coalitions involving developing countries on the issue-area of trade in services. Through the case-studies of the Uruguay Round and an analytical overview of more recent coalitions, this text fills an important gap in the literature of international political economy and international relations where most GATT/WTO-based coalitions have eluded record. This book will be of great interest to all students of international relations, politics and globalization.

Global commerce is rapidly coalescing around regional trading blocs in North America, Western Europe, Pacific Asia, and elsewhere, with enormous consequences for the world trading system. Trading Blocs examines how domestic politics have driven the emergence of these trading blocs. Author Kerry Chase argues that certain businesses lobby for trading blocs in order to gain economies of scale or move stages of production abroad. His case studies of domestic trade politics illustrate why recent regional trading arrangements have consistently promoted trade liberalization rather than protectionist backlash. Trading Blocs builds on a growing body of research into political economy and domestic politics, challenging the tendency to explain international trade relations in terms of alliances, power politics, and intergovernmental bargaining. Rich in empirical detail and statistical analysis, this book is perfect for scholars and students in the fields of political science, economics, and business.

As the world marketplace becomes ever more globalized, much is at stake for the prosperity of hundreds of millions of people in Europe and Central Asia as the region’s transition process continues through its second decade. Understanding the underlying dynamics shaping the contours and most salient impacts of international integration that have emerged—and likely to emerge prospectively—in the region is thus a crucial challenge for the medium term economic development agenda, not only for policymakers in the countries on themselves, but also for their trading partners, the international financial institutions, the donor community and the future of the world trading system as a whole. This book addresses this challenge.

This book analyses the South Asian preferential trade agreements with reference to the WTO jurisprudence. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the factors undermining economic integration in South Asia and recommends possible ways for confronting them.

De-globalization, now a distinct possibility, would induce a significant qualitative shift in strategies, structures, and behaviors observable in international business (IB). Coming to terms with this qualitative shift would require IB research to develop a much deeper integration of politics, the key driver of de-globalization. To support such integration, this paper introduces two relevant theories of (de-)globalization from political science, liberalism and realism. Both predict de-globalization under current conditions but lead to different expectations about the future world economy: liberalism suggests a patchwork of economic linkages, while realism predicts the emergence of economic blocs around major countries. This paper discusses the resulting opportunities in three areas of IB research: political strategies and roles of multinational enterprises (MNEs), global value chains, and the role of the national context. For political strategies and roles, there is a need to explore how regular business activities and deliberate political agency of MNEs affect the political sustainability of globalization. For value chains, questions include their future reach and specialization, changes in organizational forms, and the impact of political considerations on location decisions. Research opportunities on national contexts relate to their ability to sustain globalization and their connection with economic and military power.

The first decade of the 21st century has been a period of rapid eco®nomic growth in many large emerging economies, especially China. While Western economies are weighed down by debt and austerity measures, many emerging economies are in much better fiscal shape. The growing economic and financial momentum of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as indonesia, Turkey and South Korea (or 'BRICS+'), raises serious questions for Western decision makers. Of central strategic concern is whether (several of) the emerging economies are likely to coalesce into an economic or political bloc that might develop a counterbalance to Western influence in existing economic, financial and political institutions. The emergence of a de facto bipolar world with 'the West against the Rest' could increase the costs of doing business, severely complicate reaching agreement on transnational problems, challenge the promotion of Western values and human rights, lead to increased diplo®matic or military tensions and potentially jeopardize the ongoing process of economic globalization. Questions this study addresses include: could the BRICS+ pave the way to®ward a new economic or political bloc? In what ways has the rise of emerg®ing economies affected the international power balance? And, how could bloc formation impact on economic opportunities for European firms in these emerging economies?

This report examines experiences of interrelated transport and trade integration in selected regional trade blocs. The case studies range from advanced systems (Europe and North America) to more nascent efforts (Southern Africa and South Asia). the genesis for this report comes from an international workshop on transport and trade facilitation sponsored by the World Bank/escap (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). This report is organized as follows: Chapter 1 analyzes the scope and status of the interrelated processes of trade ad transport integration in five trading blocs. Chapter 2 surveys trade and transport integration in the NAFTA region.

This paper provides a general equilibrium analysis of the trade effects of the formation of a currency union, and of its subsequent enlargement to include an economically dissimilar country. Furthermore, it investigates how economic dissimilarities among countries affect the magnitude of the trade effects fostered by a common currency. We show that sharing a common currency enhances the volume of bilateral trade among countries. However, the more economically dissimilar is an accession country, compared to the original members of a currency union, the smaller are the gains in trade that would follow the enlargement of a currency union.

What determines the currency to which countries peg or \"anchor\" their exchange rate? Data for over 100 countries between 1980 and 1998 reveal that trade network externalities are a key determinant. This implies that anchor currency choice may well be suboptimal in that certain currencies, e.g., the U.S. dollar, could be oversubscribed. It also implies that changes in anchor choices by a small number of countries can have large and rapid effects on the international monetary system. Other factors found to be related to anchor choice include the symmetry of output shocks and the currency denomination of liabilities.