Synopses & Reviews
This details what is happening in global trade politics and how development NGOs, think-tanks and others critical of globalization are responding to it. The author argues that trade is the main policy area where there is least agreement among the critics of the WTO and the Western interests it protects. Yet by not articulating consistent or credible alternatives to that dominant agenda, they are missing a great opportunity. Buckman argues for three broad campaigning demands that can be agreed on: fairer trade policies and practices; more trade cooperation among poor countries; and greater localization of production in all countries.
Synopsis
Trade, along with the free movement of capital, is at the heart of today's international economy. But international trade is an intensely political and contested subject. In this book, Greg Buckman details possible future directions in global energy supplies and balance-of-payments imbalances. He argues that, just as current trading arrangements have been the product of past decisions emerging out of apparently unrelated considerations, so factors like future fossil fuel costs, global warming, and the economic imbalances between North and South are likely to impel a radical reshaping of the WTO and the principles enshrined in its agreements as well as the global trading system in general.
A key contribution to thinking about possible trade policy reforms are the reforms and alternatives - themselves not always agreed or sufficiently thought through -- advocated by the global justice movement. This book outlines these diverse proposals to make global trade more sustainable in some detail.
This book has been written to be both informative and empowering. It is an important contribution to clearer thinking, more effective campaigning, and fundamental policy reform in the field of international trade.
About the Author
Greg Buckman is former national finance manager for The Wilderness Society of Australia.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. A history of global trade
Early Continental Trade Networks - Early Trade Linkages between continents - European Global Exploration - World Trade in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries - World Trade in the Eighteenth Century - Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations - World Trade in the Nineteenth Century - World Trade in the Twentieth Century - Changing Global Trade Players
2. Global Trade Negotiations
Trade Negotiations Since the Second World War - The Bretton Woods Agreement and the International Trade Organisation - The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade - The Uruguay Round - The Doha Round - New Issues in the Uruguay Round - New Issues in the Doha Round - Negotiating Tactics within the WTO - WTO Rulings - The Retreat from Trade Multilateralism - Regional Trade Deals - High and low-income country global trade shares - Different trade patterns of high and low-income countries
3. High-income countries and trade
Trade fights between high-income countries - Trade fights between high and low-income countries - High-income country 'client state' relationship with low-income countries - The trade power of Transnational Corporations - The Protectionist History of high-income countries - The downsides of Trade Liberalization in high-income countries
4. Low-income countries and trade
The Emergence of Third and Fourth World low-income countries - Future Trade Relations between low-income countries - Current Trade Relations between low-income countries - Trade Fights between low and high-income countries - The Myth of low-income country manufacturing export growth - The Free Trade Experience of Mexico - Challenges Confronting low-income countries' trade
5. Trade, poverty and inequality
The Connection between Trade and Inequality - International Poverty - Global Inequality - Long Term changes in Global Inequality
6. Trade and the environment
The environmental impact of moving goods around the world - The Environmental Impact of the World Trade Organisation - The Environmental Impact of Foreign Investment - The Global Spread of Trade's Environmental Impact
7. The future of oil
A Brief History of Global Energy Use - Global Oil Demand Since the Second World War - Future World Oil Demand - The World's Remaining Reserves of Oil - The Peaking of Global Oil Supply - Global Warming - Alternatives to Oil
8. The future of global balance of payments problems
The Gold Standard Fixed Exchange Rate Systems - The Bretton Woods Exchange Rate System - Today's Laissez-Faire Exchange Rate System - Keynes's Alternative Balance-of-payments proposal - The Trade Plight of Least Developed Countries - Raw Material Export Price Stability Schemes
9. The policies of the global justice movement
Origins of the Global Justice Movement - Common Trade Policies of the Global Justice Movement - Defining Differences in the Trade Policies of the Global Justice Movement - Ideological Battles within the Global Justice Movement - Overview of the Trade Policies of the Global Justice Movement
10. Global Trade: Lessons for the Future
Conclusions about the Evolution of Global Trade - Conclusions about the Future of Global Trade