Despite abundant scepticism about their economic benefits, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have proliferated at a rapid pace. Policy diffusion models explain how different sets of preferential trade agreements are interconnected and establish under what conditions FTAs can work for or against the emergence of coherent regional blocs.

'The dominant recent development in global trade policy has been the explosive growth of bilateral and regional free trade areas. This excellent volume brings together academic talent from around the Pacific Rim to explore complex and varied issues involved in the evolving policies of individual countries and how they fit together. Bravo for a job well done!' - Edward Lincoln, Director, Centre for Japan-US Business and Economic Studies, New York University, USA

'Why have free trade agreements proliferated at an unprecedented rate since the World Trade Organization was established? Solis, Stallings and Katada and their contributors seek to answer this important question in this theoretically sophisticated volume. A must read for anyone interested in the current evolution of the global trade system.' - John Ravenhill, Australian National University, Australia

'In this persuasive book the authors make a major contribution to the understanding of our global political economy. Skillfully combining sustained theoretical ideas and empirical analyses, the work underlines the strategic interaction explaining the race to free trade agreements. A collection of persuasive research that breaks away from conventional thinking.' - Diana Tussie, FLACSO, Argentina

Autorentext

MIREYA SOL?S is Associate Professor at the School of International Service of American University, Washington D.C., USA. She is the author of Banking on Multinationals (2004) and co-editor of Cross-Regional Trade Agreements (2008).

BARBARA STALLINGS is William R. Rhodes Research Professor at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Providence, USA, and editor of Studies in Comparative International Development. Previously, she was Director or the Economic Development Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Professor of Political Economy, University of Wisconsin, USA. Her most recent book is Finance for Development: Latin America in Comparitive Perspective .

SAORI N. KATADA is Associate Professor at the School of International Relations, University of Southern California, USA. Her book Banking on Stability: Japan and the Cross-Pacific dynamics of International Financial Crisis Management (2001) has received a Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Book Award.

Inhalt
Explaining FTA Proliferation: A Policy Diffusion Framework; M.Solís & S.N.Katada PART I: THEMATIC CHAPTERS Exclusion Fears and Competitive Regionalism in East Asia; S.Urata Political-Security Competition and the FTA Movement: Motivations and Consequences; M.M.Mochizuki Competitive Regionalism through Bilateral and Regional Rule Making: Standard Setting and Locking-In; J.Nakagawa PART II: THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE The US as a Bilateral Player: The Impetus for Asymmetric Free Trade Agreements; C.Quiliconi & C.Wise Chile: A Pioneer in Trade Policy; B.Stallings Competitive Regionalism and México's FTA Strategy; A.Flores-Quiroga PART III: EAST ASIA Singapore and ASEAN's Competitive Regionalism in Southeast Asia and Beyond; T.Terada South Korea's FTAs: Moving from an Emulative to a Competitive Strategy; M.G.Koo Japan's Competitive FTA Strategy: Commercial Opportunity versus Political Rivalry; M.Solis China's Competitive FTA Strategy: Realism on a Liberal Slide; J.Yang Conclusion: Free Trade Agreements in a Competitive World; B.Stallings & S.N.Katada Bibliography Index