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Multilateralism, Bilateralism and Institutional Choice: The Political Economy of Regime Complexes in International Trade Policy

Multilateralism, Bilateralism and Institutional Choice: The Political Economy of Regime Complexes... The global trading regime is characterized by the co‐existence of bilateral and multilateral politics. In this article, we offer a political economy explanation for this regime complex, by tracing public actors’ institutional choices back to political incentives for economic sectors and the firms active within them. First, we argue that product differentiation creates mixed motives on the part of firms, which in turn leads to a preference for the segmentation of markets, and thus bilateralism. Second, we contend that among these firms, multinational corporations (MNCs) are particularly well‐positioned to exert influence over policy decisions in multiple international fora, both bilateral and multilateral. This provides incentives for multinationals to push governments to create and sustain regime complexes in the form of nested regimes. We show how these expectations are largely born out in an empirical test for six different economic sectors. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Global Policy Wiley

Multilateralism, Bilateralism and Institutional Choice: The Political Economy of Regime Complexes in International Trade Policy

Global Policy , Volume 12 – May 1, 2021

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References (73)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
ISSN
1758-5880
eISSN
1758-5899
DOI
10.1111/1758-5899.12884
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The global trading regime is characterized by the co‐existence of bilateral and multilateral politics. In this article, we offer a political economy explanation for this regime complex, by tracing public actors’ institutional choices back to political incentives for economic sectors and the firms active within them. First, we argue that product differentiation creates mixed motives on the part of firms, which in turn leads to a preference for the segmentation of markets, and thus bilateralism. Second, we contend that among these firms, multinational corporations (MNCs) are particularly well‐positioned to exert influence over policy decisions in multiple international fora, both bilateral and multilateral. This provides incentives for multinationals to push governments to create and sustain regime complexes in the form of nested regimes. We show how these expectations are largely born out in an empirical test for six different economic sectors.

Journal

Global PolicyWiley

Published: May 1, 2021

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