Dr Stephanie Rickard

This course is available on the BSc in Government, BSc in Government and Economics, BSc in Government and History, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics and International Relations and BSc in Politics and Philosophy. This course is not available as an outside option. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

A minimum attendance of 80% of the course is required. This course is capped at two groups. The deadline for enrolments is 12 noon Friday 30th September 2016.

A background in political economy would be advantageous.

The course focuses on the role of institutions, ideas and interests in the process and formulation of trade policy. We examine the causal influences of institutions, ideas and interests in trade, focusing predominantly on developed countries. We draw on theories from economics and political science and analyze these using both historical and contemporary examples, and do so from a comparative perspective, rather than an international relations perspective.

The primary focus of the course is on actual policy outcomes.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the LT.

There will be a reading week in Week 6.

Weekly writing assignments.

Frieden, Lake and Schultz (2010) World Politics. 216-233.

Hiscox, Michael. (2002) “Commerce, Coalitions, and Factor Mobility: Evidence from Congressional Votes on Trade Legislation.” American Political Science Review 96(3): 593-608.

Milner, Helen V. and Keiko Kubota. (2005) “Why the Move to Free Trade? Democracy and Trade Policy in the Developing Countries.” International Organization 59 (Winter): 107-144.

Rickard, Stephanie J. (2010) “Democratic Differences: Electoral Institutions and Compliance with GATT/WTO Agreements.” European Journal of International Relations 16(4): 711-729.

Nielson, Daniel L. (2003). Supplying Trade Reform: Political Institutions and Liberalization in Middle-Income Presidential Democracies. American Journal of Political Science 47:3 470-491.

C. Schonhardt-Bailey, From the Corn Laws to Free Trade: Interests, Ideas and Institutions in Historical Perspective (MIT Press, 2006).

Zahrnt, Valentin. (2008). Domestic constituents and the formulation of WTO negotiating positions: what the delegates say. World Trade Review 7 (2): 393-421.

Wei and Zhang (2010) Do external interventions work? The case of trade reform conditions in IMF supported programs Journal of Development Economics Volume 92, Issue 1, May 2010, Pages 71–81.

Frieden, Jeffry, Ronald Rogowski. (1996) “The Impact of the International Economy on National Policies: An Analytical Overview.” In Internationalization and Domestic Politics. Edited by Robert Keohane and Helen Milner, p. 25-47.

Essay (100%, 4000 words).