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The Incidental Fortress: The Single European Market and World Trade
Author(s) -
Young Alasdair R.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5965.2004.00493.x
Subject(s) - multilateralism , champion , european union , international trade , respondent , international economics , single market , commercial policy , economics , political science , law , politics
The European Union's role in international trade contains two significant contradictions: first, although its trade policy, with some notable exceptions, is generally fairly liberal, it has been the respondent in a number of high‐profile trade disputes; second, al though a champion of multilateralism, the EU has had problems complying with World Trade Organization (WTO) judgments. I argue that these contradictions in the EU's trading persona are due to the internal dynamics of European policy‐making, which create ‘regulatory peaks’ where the member governments' rules diverge, and render the resulting rules difficult to alter.