Tunisia in turmoil: how should the EU react?

The assassination of the opposition leader in Tunisia exposed the underlying divisions between members of the ruling classes, between those in and outside of government, between religious groupings and secularists, and between the coastal areas and the hinterland of Tunisia. Since the revolution, tackling social inclusion has become a pressing problem: men versus women, young versus old, opponents versus supporters of the old regime and political forces inside Tunisia versus those in exile. The National Constituent Assembly (NCA)’s inability to address these fault lines and approve the second draft of the constitution has hampered the transition of the country towards the next elections, while all of the above have undermined trust in the political process. Although Tunisians are primarily responsible for the political processes in their country, argue authors Hrant Kostanyan and Elitsa Garnizova, the EU should step up its efforts to deliver on its commitments in the areas of money, market and mobility

LSE continental breakfast 17: the North Atlantic Trade Triangle

In late June, trade and LSE experts met over Zoom to talk about the future of the North Atlantic Trade Triangle. Elitsa Garnizova (LSE) reports on the discussion

The new political economy of trade: understanding the treatment of non-tariff measures in European Union trade policy

Non-tariff measures have become a central topic to the debate of how international trade rules and domestic regulatory choices are to co-exist. They are an essential feature of the trade in goods and services, investment, and public procurement regimes. Moreover, different ideas on what is fair and legitimate and how this is justified coexist. The evolution of the inclusion of non-tariff measures can be explained by rational choice explanations looking at the changed composition and patterns of trade and resulting domestic-international dynamics. However, this explanation is only partial since it does not tell us which factors explain the different understanding of non-tariff measures and how this varies in different periods and contexts. While the constructivist literature and mainly, the literature on the role of ideas in EU trade policy have brought a stronger understanding of the content and influence of ideas, we are still missing an understanding of the content and ideas vis-à-vis non-tariff measures and regulatory issues due to the principal focus on neoliberal ideas. The dissertation aims to provide a theoretically and empirically grounded analysis of the policy process behind what we term negotiability or the overlap between what agents perceive as negotiable in the coordinative and communicative discourse. Through a combination between theory-induced and data-induced thematic and discourse analysis, we identified which factors affect negotiability. The empirical material uses a combination of primary sources, official EU documents, and in-depth elite interviews. Building on existing ideational theories, we show how two different problem definition of non-tariff measures as regulatory protectionism and as regulatory heterogeneity affect their treatment and lead to discrimination across partners. Drawing on existing theories about ideational change, we also show the meeting between the trade and regulatory regimes have brought slow, gradual change in EU trade policy through inconsistencies, ad-hoc processes, and experimentation thus creating space for discontinuities in neoliberal ideas. By analysing the international political economy causes of the treatment of non-tariff measures, we contribute new aspects to EU trade policy and on the role of ideas in understanding change-continuity

Tunisia in turmoil: how should the EU react? CEPS Commentary, 4 March 2013

The assassination of the opposition leader in Tunisia exposed the underlying divisions between members of the ruling classes, between those in and outside of government, between religious groupings and secularists, and between the coastal areas and the hinterland of Tunisia. Since the revolution, tackling social inclusion has become a pressing problem: men versus women, young versus old, opponents versus supporters of the old regime and political forces inside Tunisia versus those in exile. The National Constituent Assembly (NCA)’s inability to address these fault lines and approve the second draft of the constitution has hampered the transition of the country towards the next elections, while all of the above have undermined trust in the political process. Although Tunisians are primarily responsible for the political processes in their country, argue authors Hrant Kostanyan and Elitsa Garnizova, the EU should step up its efforts to deliver on its commitments in the areas of money, market and mobility

New trends in trade and sustainable development: a revolution in the making?

In early June, trade experts from government, academia, international organisations, and civil society met virtually at an LSE event to discuss new trends in the implementation and enforcement of trade and sustainable development provisions. Jean-Baptiste Velut, Elitsa Garnizova and Riya Roy from the LSE’s Trade Policy Hub reflect on the discussion and the findings of an accompanying comparative study

Global value chains: Potential synergies between external trade policy and internal economic initiatives to address the strategic dependencies of the EU

Global value chains enable two-thirds of international trade, notably for the EU. The EU wants to preserve its commercial links with third countries and organisations to make up for trade disruptions. This study examines sustainable supply of raw materials, commodities, and critical goods using the EU's Open Strategic Autonomy concept. It examines which raw material are crucial for sustainable supply and necessary for the green transition. The paper examines EU internal legislation and international cooperation instruments to determine the EU's disruption risk. It evaluates the economic impact of EU preferential trade agreements on raw material availability. The study illustrates the political and economic relevance of raw material partnerships and plurilateral and bilateral trade agreements. It analyses the EU's toolbox for safeguarding its interests and making independent trade choices to counteract other actors' unfair practices and intervention. Finally, the paper examines regulatory frameworks, international alliances, and activities to find ways to strengthen global value chains in critical EU industries

Tunisia in turmoil: how should the EU react? CEPS Commentary, 4 March 2013

The assassination of the opposition leader in Tunisia exposed the underlying divisions between members of the ruling classes, between those in and outside of government, between religious groupings and secularists, and between the coastal areas and the hinterland of Tunisia. Since the revolution, tackling social inclusion has become a pressing problem: men versus women, young versus old, opponents versus supporters of the old regime and political forces inside Tunisia versus those in exile. The National Constituent Assembly (NCA)’s inability to address these fault lines and approve the second draft of the constitution has hampered the transition of the country towards the next elections, while all of the above have undermined trust in the political process. Although Tunisians are primarily responsible for the political processes in their country, argue authors Hrant Kostanyan and Elitsa Garnizova, the EU should step up its efforts to deliver on its commitments in the areas of money, market and mobility

Taking its rightful place? Legitimising discourse and EU actorness in the nexus of trade and regulation

This chapter engages with debates on European Union (EU) actorness in a regional and global context by analysing the challenges faced in the nexus between trade and regulation. Whilst it speaks with one voice in international organisations and has been proclaimed the champion of the "rules-based order" in trade, EU actorness varies with its purpose and context. This is evident in its varying ability to set global rules, export the Acquis Communautaire, and act as demandeur. In this chapter, we highlight the social construction of actorness, where EU actorness depends on the ways it conceptualises itself (purpose) and its means (instruments). How it manages its purpose and instruments, defines its legitimacy. The analytical focus is on the communicative discourse of the European Commission on trade regulation and the role of trade policy. Whilst multiple paradigms and discourses interact in EU trade policy-making, we highlight the legitimising discourse around three representations: the need to act, getting prepared to act, and taking its rightful place as an actor

Assessment study of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Myanmar

The goal of the labour market TVET system is to prepare workers to easily enter the labour market. In order to assure quality in TVET and a demand-driven TVET system, it is necessary to involve the private sector in each of the components of TVET. TVET institutions must realize their role as a service provider for the economy in general, and for flourishing businesses in the country. The analysis presented in this study has confirmed that, presently, Myanmar’s TVET system is dominated by supply‐driven TVET for both public and private providers. The consultation system with entrepreneurs, business associations, and chambers of commerce that would enable the system to be more demand-driven is not yet in place. At this stage, there is no evidence of public or private-enterprise involvement in the development of curricula. The consequence has been that TVET is highly supply-driven and the training subjects are defined with little or no consultation on the needs of the labour market. The study has suggested that there are ways to change the policy from supply-driven to demand-driven, through: (i) understanding the needs of the private sector (businesses and entrepreneurs); and (ii) involving the private sector in designing the curricula so that there is more balance between theory and practice, and the curricula content and learning outcomes are closer to the needs of the labour market, i.e. competency-based

Impact of the economic crisis on social, economic and territorial cohesion of the European Union

The impact of the economic and financial crisis that started in 2008 is still being felt. In November 2008, the European Commission launched a European Economic Recovery Plan with a view to coordinate Member States’ action in response to the crisis. In this context, the Study uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in order to provide an overview of the impact of the crisis across four Member States and eight regions, in terms of economic, social and territorial cohesion, and to assess the responses of cohesion policy to counteract the crisis