This book takes stock of the complex and hybrid character of contemporary international political economy.
The rise of cross-regional trade agreements is a defining trend of the current international trade system as shown by the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2015, the negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the USA and the EU as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between countries in Asia and Oceania. These differ from previous agreements in their economic significance and large geographic scale, and the wide scope of trade-related issues.
The current rise of nationalist and isolationist ideologies across Europe and the USA has raised questions on the future of cross-regional trade deals and made the need to understand their implications for economic and political governance ever more urgent. Two main forms of governance that are central to this volume are the democratic tensions over new generation trade deals on the one hand, and their geopolitical ramifications on the other, which have come into collision to herald the advent of a highly uncertain period of world politics. Many of the questions tackled in this volume, surrounding the democratic governance of trade agreements - whether long-held debates on the inclusion of workers' voices, controversies on intrusive "behind the border" provisions undermining national sovereignty and local autonomy or new questions on digital rights - are crucial to understand the ebbing popular support for far-reaching trade agreements.
This book will be a useful learning tool for students and scholars in a wide range of fields, including Globalisation, Global Governance, International Political Economy, International Trade and Investment and International Law, and should also be of interest to EU trade negotiators, international policymakers and business associations.
"A must-read for scholars and students alike. Properly well crafted for academic use, the book provides a solid and consistent account of the political economy of trade governance from its novelties in a changing global world up to the regulatory side and relation with politics. It provides useful and well-varied examples for the classroom. The work is an indispensable contribution for the discipline of International Political Economy." - Ernesto Vivares, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Ecuador"This book provides a critical and timely account of the wide array of, and complexity of governance issues surrounding new cross-regionalism. A must read for all actors with an interest in the implications of the newest generation of trade deals for the global economy, and a commitment to configuring trade deals to make them more just, equitable and sustainable." - Annita Montoute, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago.
