POLSCI 2H03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Nationstates, Floating Exchange Rate, Dispute Settlement In The World Trade Organization
Document Summary
Discuss the world trade regime, with a focus on the transition from the gatt to the wto. Learn about the current international financial system, and its emerfence from the bretton woods system. Consdier how this international financial system contributed to the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Post wwii, the gatt existed as the primary framework governing international trade relations. This persisted until 1995 when the uruguay round established the world trade organization (wto), which effectively replaced the gatt and served as an indication of a further institutionalization of trade rules. 3 key problems with gatt: (1) failure to reverse the growth of protectionism (embedded liberalism; as opposed to neo- liberalism) Embedded liberalism: foundational principle of gatt; aim to achieve 2 goals: (1) promote free-trade/move into open market system of free-trade (2) protect domestic economies from the negative effects of free-trade and protect them from unemployment. Theory of embedded liberalism stopped certain types of imports and created subsidies for others.