Power in global trade governance : is the EU a unitary actor, a tool for dominance, or a site of contestation? GATS and the TTIP negotiations

The European Union (EU) plays multiple roles within global trade governance as a unitary actor with particular interests to promote, a tool for dominance by powerful interests, and a site of contestation facilitating civil society mobilization. Identifying these roles is key to analyzing the role of the EU particularly in times of crisis in global trade governance where new forms of politics are most likely to emerge. This is investigated through considering two cases of politically sensitive trade negotiation in which the EU played, and continues to play, an active role: the GATS 2000 negotiations and the EU-US TTIP

The EU's international investment policy ten years on: the policy-making implications of unintended competence transfers

In 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon empowered the EU to pursue an international investment policy and to conclude international investment agreements. The EU's first steps in this policy domain have attracted considerable public attention. Analysts depict competing societal interests as the main forces shaping EU policy in this domain. This article scrutinizes this widespread perception. It argues that competence struggles between the European Institutions and Member States, which still echo broad Member State opposition against the initial decision to empower the EU in this domain during the drafting of the Lisbon Treaty, play a similarly important role in shaping EU international investment policy. This article enhances our understanding of EU policy-making in a highly salient policy domain and theoretically contributes to research on European Integration in that it shows that it matters for policy-making ‘how’ the EU received an underlying competence