The Future of Trade Governance: Political, Economic & Legal Issues

The conference is jointly organized by the Murphy Institute and the European University Institute, Florence.  The UK's Brexit referendum and the US's 2016 presidential primaries signaled that significant elements of civil society are unhappy with the political and economic system that has been in place since the end of World War II.  The world trading system, based on the European Union and the World Trade Organization, and extended by a wide range of other agreements, appeared to be an extraordinary example of a broadly rule-based system, but it is now targeted by precisely the populist and nationalist forces that the system had sought to control.  At the limit, these forces seek to simply destroy fundamental institutions of the Liberal trade order (the WTO, the EU, NAFTA, etc.) or, at a minimum, revert to the more power-oriented (“diplomacy” v. law) approach of the immediate post-War order.  This is occurring precisely at a time when, faced with the emergence of a new, genuine super power--China--a rule-based system is essential to peaceful incorporation of that power.  This conference will address issues including, but not limited to: sources of pressure for change in the system (including both anti-global populist politics and increased incorporation of China); political and economic consequences of such transformations; short-to medium term prospects for continued functioning of the rule-based system; political and economic consequences of such transformations; prospects for constitutional change (as opposed to simple destruction); normative analysis of possible changes in implementation of existing agreements, new agreements, and systemic/constitutional change.