STRATEGY AND HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL RELATIONS

Module INSTITUTIONS and GOVERNMENT of INTERNATIONAL TRADE

The course 'Strategy of International Trade' provides specific analytical and methodological tools of Political Science in order to understand and explain the functioning of global trade institutions and global trade governance. Specific attention is to be devoted to the EU's role in global trade, to relations among key global trade powers, to transformation of the global system and the evolution of international trade policy. 
Students acquire Political Science knowledge and capacities to understand international political phenomena that shape global trade.
Via a specific role-play exercise on euro-lobbying students will acquire lobbying techniques. Students are invited to elaborate a project work to convey to political institutions specific requests on a topic of their interest.  

The Political Science module 'Strategy of International Trade' relies upon active learning. Alongside traditional academic lectures, students are involved in class debate and critical analysis of readings. Students are invited to read beforehand the selected texts. Students are also required to prepare individual or group presentations on topics such as euro-lobbying, 'trade-wars', EU-USA trade relations, TTIP failed negotiations, the 'protectionist turn' of Trumpism, the global role of BRICS, the impact of energy dependence on political relations, etc. 

These readings are made available to students via studium and/or TEAMS and can also be downloaded from the UNICT online library. 

Lectures 1-9 (EU as a market power): 

- Carbone, M. (2024)  Beyond the Heaven–Hell Binary and the One-Way Traffic Paradigm: The European Union, Africa and Contested Human Rights in the Negotiations of the Samoa Agreement. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies,  62:  1314–1331. [COMPULSORY READING]

- Damro, Chad (2012), ‘Market power Europe’, Journal of European Public Policy, 19:5, 682-699.  [COMPULSORY READING]

- Meunier, Sophie & Kalypso, Nicolaidis( 2019), ‘The Geopoliticization of European Trade and Investment Policy’, JCMS, Annual Review, 57, S1: 103-113 

- Leblond, P. and Viju-Miljusevic, C. (2019), ‘EU trade policy in the twenty-first century: change, continuity and challenges’, Journal of European Public Policies, 26(12): 1836-1846. [COMPULSORY READING]
- Poletti, A., Sicurelli, D. and Yildirim, A.B. (2021), Promoting sustainable development through trade? EU trade agreements and global value chains, in Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica (2021), 51, 339–354. 

- Schimmelfennig, Frank (2020), ‘Politicisation management in the European Union’, Journal of European Public Policy, 27:3, 342-361. [COMPULSORY READING]
- Young Alasdair R. (2017), ‘European trade policy in interesting times’, Journal of European Integration, 39:7, 909-923. 

- Young Alasdair R. (2019), ‘Where’s the demand? Explaining the EU’s surprisingly constructive response to adverse WTO rulings’, Journal of European Integration, 41:1, 9-27. 

Lectures 10-18 (lobbying e advocacy): 

- Dür, A., Huber, R.A., Mateo, G. et al. Interest group preferences towards trade agreements: institutional design matters. Int Groups Adv 12, 48–72 (2023). [COMPULSORY READING]
- Kohler‐Koch, Beate & Friedrich, David A. (2019), ‘Business Interest in the EU: Integration without Supranationalism?’, in JCMS, 58:2, 455-471.

- Pakull, D., Marshall, D. & Bernhagen, P. Shop till you drop? Venue choices of business and non-business interests in the European Union. Int Groups Adv 9, 520–540 (2020).

- Pritoni, A., (2021), Politica e interessi. Il lobbying nelle democrazie contemporanee, Il Mulino, Bologna, capp. 1, 4, 6. [COMPULSORY READING]

Further readings for students' class presentations:

- Andrione-Moylan, A.,  de Wilde, P., and  Raube, K. (2024)  (De-)politicization Discourse Strategies: The Case of Trade. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies,  62:  21–37.

- Awad, E. Understanding influence in informational lobbying. Int Groups Adv 13, 1–19 (2024). 

- Christou, A., and  Damro, C. (2024)  Frames and Issue Linkage: EU Trade Policy in the Geoeconomic Turn. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies,  62:  1080–1096.

- Dür Andreas & Mateo Gemma (2024) Lobbying in the face of politicisation: interest group strategies in trade policy, Journal of European Public Policy, 31:1, 212-238.

- Dür Andreas, Scott Michael Hamilton & Dirk De Bièvre (2024) Reacting to the politicization of trade policy, Journal of European Public Policy, 31:1, 1-19.

- Elise Antoine, Ece Özlem Atikcan & Adam William Chalmers (2024), Politicisation, business lobbying, and the design of preferential trade agreements, Journal of European Public Policy, 31:1, 239-268.

- Freudlsperger, C., and  Meunier, S. (2024)  When Foreign Policy Becomes Trade Policy: The EU's Anti-Coercion Instrument. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies,  62:  1063–1079.

- Hanegraaff, M.,  Poletti, A., and  Van Ommeren, E. (2024)  Firms and Trade Policy Lobbying in the European Union. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies,  62:  629–652. 

His/her knowledge is evaluated as follows: class debate (10%); presentations (25%), critical analysis of the documents (25%),  'project work' - roughly 1000 words (included references) on a topic selected by the students according to their specific interests (40%). 

Non-attending classes students will be orally examined on the compulsory readings.

1. Explain the linkage between EU trade policy and European integration. 

2. Analyze EU policy trade as an instrument of EU foreign policy.

3. The effects of crisis (e.g. euro-crisis, Brexit,  COVID19) upon EU as a normative power.

4. Is trade (still) a 'neutral' topic in EU agenda? 

5. Is the EU still engaged in multilateralism and trade liberalization?

6. Has the EU (still) a unique voice in global trade? 

7. Lobbying techniques at EU-level: effective strategies.