Beyond Free Trade

Abstract

The world of trade policy and trade politics is changing rapidly, reflected in fundamental shifts in global trading patterns and relations of power associated with the 'rise of the South,' and with the burgeoning array of new trade projects, from fair trade to carbon emissions trading. Conventional economic trade theory has generally been unable to account for the political and social forces driving these new directions in international trade, giving rise to growing interest among social scientists from a variety of disciplines in innovative methods for understanding the political, social, ecological, ideological, and economic dynamics of international trade. Beyond Free Trade showcases these new approaches, seeking to destabilize and confront the vision of trade offered by mainstream economics with ones rooted in a messier, more complicated, and power-laden world.