IR - One Definition A Day:
MFN - Most Favoured Nation
This fundamental principle of international trade seeks to establish and advance the principle of equality of treatement and non-discrimination among trading states. The principle may be illustrated by taking a bilateral situation thus: under mfn principles, the parties will extend to each other the same advantages that they have extended to other third parties in the past, or are extending to others concurrently, or intend to extend in the future. Most favoured nation (mfn) principles are typically applied to tariffs and if these principles are applied consistently, they should lead to mutual and balanced tariff reductions.
It is generally agreed that the MFN principle began to be applied to international trade in the eighteenth century, reaching its peak in the last decades of the nineteenth. The First World War and the events thereafter led to the weakening of its application but with the formation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 a concerted attempt was made to resuscitate these ideas by writing them into the first article of GATT. At the same time GATT allows important exceptions to the mfn principle. Crucially trade blocs, free trade areas and common markets are all except. The emergence of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Developement (UNCTAD) in the 1960s further weakened the mfn principle because the Third World called for a system of positive discrimination in their favour to replace it. This call has been recognized system of preferences between advanced industrial countries (AICS) and the Third World.
The mfn principle remains a testament to those who believed in a liberal, equal, non-discriminator international trading system.
Read more on multilateralism, reciprocity
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Showing posts with label Free Trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Free Trade. Show all posts
Apr 1, 2015
IR - One Definition A Day: Bretton Woods System
IR - One Definition A Day : Bretton Woods
A series of multilateral agreements on international economic relations were reached at Bretton Woods (BW/US) in July 1944 under the aegis of the embryo UN. Forty-four states agreed to a Final Act establishing an IMF and an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). The proposals that were discussed at BW were the outcome of a series of bilateral nogotiations conducted between the US and the UK over the previous two years. The IBRD was described by the London Economist in 1945 as a 'much simpler project which has attracted neither much discussion nor much hostility...'.The IMF, on the other hand, was from its inception more controversial. The two states concerned with these preliminaries, the US the UK had ratehr divergent ideas about the future monetary regime. These differences were made public in, respectively, the White Plan, originating in the US Treasury, and the Keynes Plan, originating in the UK Treasury. White envisaged a Stabilisation Fund made up entirely of contributions from member states. Keynes envisaged a Clearing Union based on the overdraft principle and employing a new unit of account - the 'bancor'. Whereas the total available liquidity remained constant under White - so that drawing rights equalled liabilities - in the Keynes scheme additional liquidity could be pumped into the system to enable debtor states to overdraw. Conversely, creditor states would provide the main collateral in this arrangement.
The Anglo-American differences over the putative IMF are sometimes peresented as the conservative versus the radical views of the future. It should be noted, however, that both schemes tended to reflect the perceived national interests of the parties advocating them. In the event, the US bargaining position was more credible and the Bretton Woods conference produced a fund which bore a close family resemblance to the White Plan.
The term 'Bretton Woods system' is often used to refer to these two institutions and to the regimes established. Both have changed considerably since their inception. Accordingly, the reference to 'Bretton Woods' is of historical, rather than contemporary, validity.
(Source: wikipedia)
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IR - One Definition A Day: Free Trade
IR - One Definition A Day: Free Trade (p. 183-184, Ref 1)
A trading system between two or more actors. The essence of free trade is that goods are imported without any restrictions, such as tariffs, being placed upon them.From an economic standpoint, free trade increases competition and efficiency. Producers have access to foreign markets, while consumers have access to imports. As a result of free trade the greater specialisation occurs in economic activity throughout the system. Individual members become less self-sufficient and more dependent upon others. Consequently, free trade is often associated with the growth of interdependence among actors. As a system of organising economic relations it may be directly contrasted with autarky or self-sufficiency.
The advocacy of free trade is usually associated with economic liberalism, at least in its classical phase. Many of these ideas were resuscitated after 1945 under the Bretton Woodssystem of international economic relations. Under the hegemonial influence of the United States, the major institutional framework for post-war relations was established.
Similarly the later negotiations for an international trade regime, under the defunct International Trade Organisation (ITO), and the substitute General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) reflected the same liberal free trade philosophy. The same outlook influenced the Marshall Plan and post-war tariff-cutting negotiations under GATT. Free trade regimes have been most successful in manufacturing (secondary) sectors of economic activity. Agricultural production has rarely been truly free whilst free trade in service industries is technically difficult to implement. As a result the call for 'fair trade' as opposed to free trade is increasingly heard in these sectors.
The philosophical assumptions behind free trade have been criticized by the compensatory liberals and others. The rise of the Third World has thrown these doubts into sharp relief because the alleged shortcomings are not simply a matter of intellectual fashion or preference. Writers such as Prebisch (1964) have argued that if terms of trade penalize certain economies a system of free trade will leave some states permanently at a disadvantage. If those penalized are those that can least afford it, then free trade can exacerbate and widen inequalities within the system. Demands for a free trade regime that ignore such structural inequalities have been opposed by the Third World.
The New International Economic Order (NIEO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have been used by this constituency to press for changes in the trade regime that will recognize and compensate for these difficulties.
(Source: Ref 1, Dictionary of IR, Penguin Reference)
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IR - One Definition A Day: Third World
IR - One Definition A Day
Third World
A portmanteau term for those states in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia (excepting Japan) and the Pacific islands (excepting Australia and New Zealand) which have experienced decolonisation over the last two centuries. The term 'Third World' is an anglicized rendition of the French 'Tiers-Monde' popularized in the 1950s by writers such as Georges Balandier and Alfred Sauvy. The Third World originally stood in contradistinction to the 'First World' (of capitalist liberal democracy) and the Second World (of command economic planning), but with the collapse of communism the trichotomy has lost much of its significance. The retention of the term 'Third World' although difficult to justify in logic perhaps, is testimony to the custom and usage of thirty years and the enduring significance of the Cold War ideological debates. China was always marginalised by the idea of Third World. Possessing many of the attributes of the typical Third World state, ideology ruled China out of all identification. Also at the margin were Israel and South Africa, geographically and historically within the meaning of the term but nevertheless regarded as near pariahs on ideological grounds.
Although the Third World has shaken off the formal political control of colonialism, legacies of the past remain. Thus the actual territorial dimensions of many Third World states, notably in Africa, are the results of colonialist cartographers and political geographers. As a consequence of this arbitrary demarcation, many states in the Third World are ethically heterogeneous.Ethnic nationalism, as a centrifugal tendency working against the centripetal state nationalism, is a divisive factor in these states as a result.
Marxist-inclined analyses of international relations deny that the formal granting of independence made any substantial difference to the relative power positions of the Third World vis-à-vis the First World - wherein, according to Marxists, imperialism arose. In particular the considerable economic power of the AICs of the First World is a determining factor in these relations. Assisting First World domination are the multinational corporations (MNCs) which function as conduits for this influence. many of the examples that inform this view are taken from latin American experience, and it would appear that a comprador middle class has developed in the region to provide a linkage with the dominant economic interests in the First World. Latin America may not be typical, however, and in other parts of the Third Wolrd, notably in Asia, a more nationalist bourgeoisie has developed. In the most dynamic NICs, indeed, countervailing corporative growth can counterbalance the economic domination of First World interests.
As far as intergovernmental relations are concerned, the Third World has responded to this domination trhough organisations such as OPEC and UNCTAD by making a number of demands under the new international economic order initiative. The Third World states have also used their majority membership of organisations like the UN to call for closer control and supervision to be exerciced of MNCs. Again they have campaigned through UNCTAD for the abandonment of the Bretton Woods system of non-discrimnation in favour of trade preferences aimed at assisting their development goals.
In the military-security issue area the Third World states have often faced significant problems in managing their national security. The centrifugal ethnic tendencies referred to above have in extreme cases produced the disintegration of states (for example Pakistan) or significant and damaging civil strife. Additionally, with such notable exceptions as India affords, many Third World states lacked the habits of the heart to ensure effective governance of their states. The terms 'quasi-state' has been coined to identify this problem. The cold war environment into which these states had to conduct their foreign policies probably exacerbated these problems. From the Truman Doctrine onwards, all that Third World leaderships had to show to engage US in Military AID arrangements was the presence of an internal/external threat that could plausibly be perceived as communist.
Interventionalist policies have not been the prerogative of the First or Second Worlds of course. States within the Third World have been prompted to intervene in a variety of military-securit issue areas. Ths Vietnam, India, Lybia, Tanzania, Cuba and Nigeria have shown a willingness towards internation in regional conflict situations. The Persian Gulf War's proximate cause was Iraqi intervention and annexation of neighbouring Kuwait, whilst Syrian intervention in the Lebanon altered the communal balance significantly.
The end of the Cold War era in world politics has affected both the position and the policies of the Third World states. Indeed it has substantially altered the ideological assumptions that might be called 'Third Worldism'. The self destruction of the Second World has at one and the same time removed a viable alternative 'model' of national economic development and substantially reduced the intrinsic importance of the Third World in First World considerations. Market orientated approaches underpinned by a belief in economic liberalism can now be given full scope and significance.
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Third World
A portmanteau term for those states in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia (excepting Japan) and the Pacific islands (excepting Australia and New Zealand) which have experienced decolonisation over the last two centuries. The term 'Third World' is an anglicized rendition of the French 'Tiers-Monde' popularized in the 1950s by writers such as Georges Balandier and Alfred Sauvy. The Third World originally stood in contradistinction to the 'First World' (of capitalist liberal democracy) and the Second World (of command economic planning), but with the collapse of communism the trichotomy has lost much of its significance. The retention of the term 'Third World' although difficult to justify in logic perhaps, is testimony to the custom and usage of thirty years and the enduring significance of the Cold War ideological debates. China was always marginalised by the idea of Third World. Possessing many of the attributes of the typical Third World state, ideology ruled China out of all identification. Also at the margin were Israel and South Africa, geographically and historically within the meaning of the term but nevertheless regarded as near pariahs on ideological grounds.
Although the Third World has shaken off the formal political control of colonialism, legacies of the past remain. Thus the actual territorial dimensions of many Third World states, notably in Africa, are the results of colonialist cartographers and political geographers. As a consequence of this arbitrary demarcation, many states in the Third World are ethically heterogeneous.Ethnic nationalism, as a centrifugal tendency working against the centripetal state nationalism, is a divisive factor in these states as a result.
Marxist-inclined analyses of international relations deny that the formal granting of independence made any substantial difference to the relative power positions of the Third World vis-à-vis the First World - wherein, according to Marxists, imperialism arose. In particular the considerable economic power of the AICs of the First World is a determining factor in these relations. Assisting First World domination are the multinational corporations (MNCs) which function as conduits for this influence. many of the examples that inform this view are taken from latin American experience, and it would appear that a comprador middle class has developed in the region to provide a linkage with the dominant economic interests in the First World. Latin America may not be typical, however, and in other parts of the Third Wolrd, notably in Asia, a more nationalist bourgeoisie has developed. In the most dynamic NICs, indeed, countervailing corporative growth can counterbalance the economic domination of First World interests.
As far as intergovernmental relations are concerned, the Third World has responded to this domination trhough organisations such as OPEC and UNCTAD by making a number of demands under the new international economic order initiative. The Third World states have also used their majority membership of organisations like the UN to call for closer control and supervision to be exerciced of MNCs. Again they have campaigned through UNCTAD for the abandonment of the Bretton Woods system of non-discrimnation in favour of trade preferences aimed at assisting their development goals.
In the military-security issue area the Third World states have often faced significant problems in managing their national security. The centrifugal ethnic tendencies referred to above have in extreme cases produced the disintegration of states (for example Pakistan) or significant and damaging civil strife. Additionally, with such notable exceptions as India affords, many Third World states lacked the habits of the heart to ensure effective governance of their states. The terms 'quasi-state' has been coined to identify this problem. The cold war environment into which these states had to conduct their foreign policies probably exacerbated these problems. From the Truman Doctrine onwards, all that Third World leaderships had to show to engage US in Military AID arrangements was the presence of an internal/external threat that could plausibly be perceived as communist.
Interventionalist policies have not been the prerogative of the First or Second Worlds of course. States within the Third World have been prompted to intervene in a variety of military-securit issue areas. Ths Vietnam, India, Lybia, Tanzania, Cuba and Nigeria have shown a willingness towards internation in regional conflict situations. The Persian Gulf War's proximate cause was Iraqi intervention and annexation of neighbouring Kuwait, whilst Syrian intervention in the Lebanon altered the communal balance significantly.
The end of the Cold War era in world politics has affected both the position and the policies of the Third World states. Indeed it has substantially altered the ideological assumptions that might be called 'Third Worldism'. The self destruction of the Second World has at one and the same time removed a viable alternative 'model' of national economic development and substantially reduced the intrinsic importance of the Third World in First World considerations. Market orientated approaches underpinned by a belief in economic liberalism can now be given full scope and significance.
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IR - One Definition A Day: First World
IR - One Definition A Day: First World
As the word 'First' implies this categorisation refers to those states that were historically in the vanquard of the modernisation process following the Industrial Revolution that commenced in eighteenth-century Britain.As a collective expression the terms 'First World' and 'Advanced Industrial Countries' (AIC) are coterminous. The occurence of the Cold War in mid-twentieth-century international relations led to the term taking on a more relativist connotation. It became a requirement of popular analysis to contrast the First World with the Second (meaning the communist states) and eventually the 'Third World'. The end of the Cold War, the collapse of communism and the weakening of the viability of the concept of Third Worldism has had a feedback effect upon the idea of the First World.
Historically the term probably retains relevance as a means of identifying a group of states that espoused capitalism and economic liberalism. In the account of this development change occured as a result of internal processes rather than external pressures. Economic growth led to the developoment of a bourgeoisie and to demands for political participation to be broadened to accomodate these new classes.
Scientific innovation and technoligical change are important features of these societies and again they tend to be in the vanquard of most of these changes. The multinational corporation (MNC) is the unique non-governmental creation of the First World's value system and it has been the vehicle or transmission belt for distributing these values to the rest of the system. There is growing evidence that the template of First Worldism is being reassessed from within as so-called 'a quality of life' considerations are producing a possible paradigm shift towards more sustainable development.
(Source: wikipedia)
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IR - One Definition A Day : BEMs (Big Emerging Markets)
IR - One Definition A Day: BEMs or Big Emerging Markets (p. 50, Ref. 1)
These are ten states identifed by the US Department of Commerce in 1994 as potential growth points within the international Economy.The ten are: China, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Poland and Turkey.
The stipulation of these BEMs has a number of repercussions at both the international system and the foreign policy levels. It further weakens the value of such catch-all terms as 'South' and 'Third World'. Like the term NIC and the colloquial 'Asian Tigers', it shows that a group of states previously thought of as being in the Third World (or even the Second World in the case of Poland) have now been promoted into some higher division.
It also reinforces the pervasive influence of economic liberalism as arguably a dominant paradigm in international relations since these states are without question following market orientated paths to development. At the foreign policy level it shows how with the end of the Cold War, the USA is no longer pursuing its foreign policy interests in a bipolar framework.
(Source: Penguin Dictionary of IR)
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
IR - One Definition A Day: NIC (Newly Industrialized/Industrializing Country)
IR - One Definition A Day: NIC - Newly Industrialized/Industrializing Country (p. 372, réf 1)
NIC is an acronym for Newly Industrialized / Industrializing Country (both terms are found in the literature).
There is some debate and discrepancy about the membership of this grouping but four unequivocal NICs can be identified in the region of East Asia: South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore. Other putative NICs in other regions of the system are referred to below. In passing it should also be noted that of the above four, Hongkong is sui generis. Its status was that of a dependent territory, not a state: it has now been repatriated to China. Nor does its undoubted economic prosperity make it typical of the NICs. Unlike the other three, Hongkong has developed as a key financial and business centre, playing an entrepôt role vis-à-vis China and East Asia in general.
There is some debate and discrepancy about the membership of this grouping but four unequivocal NICs can be identified in the region of East Asia: South Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong and Singapore. Other putative NICs in other regions of the system are referred to below. In passing it should also be noted that of the above four, Hongkong is sui generis. Its status was that of a dependent territory, not a state: it has now been repatriated to China. Nor does its undoubted economic prosperity make it typical of the NICs. Unlike the other three, Hongkong has developed as a key financial and business centre, playing an entrepôt role vis-à-vis China and East Asia in general.
Notwithstanding the Hongkong case, the NICs have been able to expand their manufacturing sectors because they have enjoyed advantegeous comparative costs vis-à-vis the market leaders, the advanced industrial countries (AICs). They have a high level of entrepreneurial skill amonst their populations, an open economy regarding foreign invesetment and stable, if undemocratic, potlitical regimes.
The emergence of the NICs exemplifies a real shift in productive resources from the North to selected sites in the South. Typical examples of manufacturing growth can be cited in such fields as: cars and trucks, consumer electrical goods, shipbuilding, steels and textiles. Among Third World states the NICs stand out for their achievement of self-sustained, export-led economic growth. They have, moreover, avoided the kinds of debt problems associated with the recent economic performance of the putative NICs of Latin America.
The evident success of these NICs has had two effects upon the relations in the field of political economy. First, their success has weakened the concept of Third World solidarity. Ideologically the NICs have achieved their impressive economic performance by applying the principles of economic liberalism and by following the example of Japan. They have been willing to see multinational companies (MNCs) investment in their economies and have often facilitated such capital flows by offering a permissive taxation regime to corporations. Their political systems, if stable, have poor human rights records and limited and restricted opportunities for participation.
The second consequence of NIC success has been that it has provoked a backlash amongst the AICs. One form this has taken has been for increases in protectionism on the grounds that 'cheap' imports are flooding into home markets from these areas. A second response, particularly favoured in the United States, is to argue that the NICs have 'graduated' into the first division and that henceforth they should cease to regard themselves, or be regarded by others as Third World states requireing special consideration. Institutionally their appropirate destination would seem to be the Organisation for Econocomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) according to this perception.
The emergence of the NICs exemplifies a real shift in productive resources from the North to selected sites in the South. Typical examples of manufacturing growth can be cited in such fields as: cars and trucks, consumer electrical goods, shipbuilding, steels and textiles. Among Third World states the NICs stand out for their achievement of self-sustained, export-led economic growth. They have, moreover, avoided the kinds of debt problems associated with the recent economic performance of the putative NICs of Latin America.
The evident success of these NICs has had two effects upon the relations in the field of political economy. First, their success has weakened the concept of Third World solidarity. Ideologically the NICs have achieved their impressive economic performance by applying the principles of economic liberalism and by following the example of Japan. They have been willing to see multinational companies (MNCs) investment in their economies and have often facilitated such capital flows by offering a permissive taxation regime to corporations. Their political systems, if stable, have poor human rights records and limited and restricted opportunities for participation.
The second consequence of NIC success has been that it has provoked a backlash amongst the AICs. One form this has taken has been for increases in protectionism on the grounds that 'cheap' imports are flooding into home markets from these areas. A second response, particularly favoured in the United States, is to argue that the NICs have 'graduated' into the first division and that henceforth they should cease to regard themselves, or be regarded by others as Third World states requireing special consideration. Institutionally their appropirate destination would seem to be the Organisation for Econocomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) according to this perception.
Four unequivocal NICs were identifed earlier. Overlapping membership with the colloquial Asian Tigers is evident.
Putative membership for the next decade and the new century must include many - if not all- of the recently identified big emerging markets (BEMs).
Putative membership for the next decade and the new century must include many - if not all- of the recently identified big emerging markets (BEMs).
(Source: Dict Penguin IR)
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Apr 1, 2014
IR - One Definition A Day: World Bank Group
IR - One Definition A Day: World Bank Group (p. 574 Ref. 1)
This collectivity consists of three intergovernmental organizations (IGOs): the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Finance Corporation. The first named, the IBRD, is popularly known as the World Bank. As the title implies the twin purposes of setting up the World Bank, as part of the Bretton Woods system of international economic institutions, was to facilitate the rebuilding of those essentially developed economies which had been shattered by war and to assist in the more basic task of economic development of the less developed countries (LDCs).
The Bank is the twin organisation of the IMF and indeed membership of the Bank is restricted to states which are also members of the Fund. Like the Fund, the Bank has a system of weighted voting which gives power to effect outcomes to those states which make the greatest contributions. These contributions are, in fact, expressed as subscriptions to the Bank and these member state subscriptions are one of the main sources of Bank funds. In addition the Bank goes into the private capital markets to raise funds and these borrowings now constitute the largest source of Bank liquidity. Being heavily infused with commercial banking principles it comes as no surprise that the Bank's lending policy follows fairly strict commercial criteria.
The need for an institution that would provide 'soft' loans led to the establishment of the IDA in 1960. Like the Bank the IDA makes loans rather than grants and, again as with the IBRD, the would-be recipients are vetted beforehand. Loans are made to recipients to encourage the development of their infrastructure. Unlike the Bank, the IDA is totally dependent upon member states' contributions for its source of funds.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) was established in 1956 to encourage the growth of private enterprise and entrepreuniral skills in the LDCs. It limits its participation in projects to a minority share-holding and has particularly concentrated on secondary or manufacturing sectors.
The conservative orthodoxy of the Bank and the extent of the depressed situation in the world economy (outside of North America) after 1947 meant that the Bank was something of a bystander. The US took steps through measures like the Marshall Plan, through its defence spending and through other aid measures to pump-prime the economies of the AICs by running dollar deficits. As the Cold War became the clear and present danger for American leaders from Truman onwards so the foreign assistance programme was seen as too crucial to military security interests to be left to multilateralism as represented by the Bank.
The collapse of the Bretton Woods system and the oil shocks of the 1970s did nothing to reduce the marginalization of the Bank in the context of aid flows. The Bank did play some role in the receycling of petrodollars through the Western system after the oil shocks. It was rather two developments in the 1980s which served to resuscitate the fortunes of the Bank. The demise of collectivist economic strategies in favour of privatization and free-market reforms meant that the principles of economic liberalism which is the dominant ideology of the Bank now found a more receptive environment - both intellectually and politically. Second, the debt crisis and the various proposals mooted to deal with it such as the Baker and Braddy Plans have brought the Bank in from the cold as a key player in administering their implementation.
(Source: Réf Penguin Dictionary of IR)
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Aug 2, 2011
IR - One Definition A Day: Taiwan Economic Miracle
IR - One Definition A Day:
Source: Wikipedia
Taiwan Miracle
The Taiwan Miracle (traditional Chinese: 台灣奇蹟 or 臺灣奇蹟; pinyin: Táiwān Qíjì) or Taiwan Economic Miracle refers to the rapidindustrialization and economic growth of Taiwan during the latter half of the twentieth century. As it has developed alongside Singapore,South Korea and Hong Kong, Taiwan became known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers".
Source: Wikipedia
Taiwan Miracle
The Taiwan Miracle (traditional Chinese: 台灣奇蹟 or 臺灣奇蹟; pinyin: Táiwān Qíjì) or Taiwan Economic Miracle refers to the rapidindustrialization and economic growth of Taiwan during the latter half of the twentieth century. As it has developed alongside Singapore,South Korea and Hong Kong, Taiwan became known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers".
Background
After a period of hyperinflation in the late 1940s when the Kuomintang (KMT) military regime of Chen Yi overprinted the new Taiwan Yuan against the previous Japan Taiwan Yen, it became clear that a new and stable currency was needed. When the KMT government retreated to Taiwan after the loss of mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, it brought the part of precious metal and foreign currency reserve of mainland China to the island. Although war-ravaged China had held only a very small reserve - some $170 million in all[1], those reserves helped to establish a gold-standard reserve currency in Taiwan, which in turn helped to stabilize prices and reduce hyperinflation. More importantly, many of the Chinese intellectual and business elites moved with KMT to the island[citation needed] The Japanese had built up the agricultural and industrial infrastructure as well as chemical, material, and food reserves on the island that allowed the elite of the KMT supporters to jumpstart their own economic endeavors. Along with the $4 billion in financial aid and soft credit provided by the US (as well as the indirect economic stimulus of US food and military aid) over the 1945-1965 period [1], Taiwan had the necessary capital to restart its economy. Further, the KMT government instituted many laws and land reforms that it had never effectively enacted on mainland China.
Jul 4, 2011
IR - One Definition A Day: Free Trade Area
IR - One Definition A Day, Free Trade Area (p. 184, Ref. 1)
A form of economic uniton between states. In a free trade area the constituent members agree to abolish tariffs and other restrictions on stipulated goods between themselves. However, vis-à-vis the rest of the system they continue to maintain the structure of their existing tariffs. A free trade area is therefore a less integrated system than a customs untion because there is no common external tariff.
Although a free trade area is less integrated it may prove to be just as complicated to implement because rules and procedures have to be agreed to prevent goods entering the area from outside via those member states with the lowest range of tariffs. Without the claer rules about origin, the states with the lowest tariffs will benefit most from a free trade area, because trade and production will be deflected in their favour. Logic would suggest that a free trade area works best where the members have a similar pattern of external tariffs, or where they agree to substantial hamrmonisation of tariffs to reduce differentials. For this reason a free trade area is often seen as the preliminary stage in the formulation of a full customs union.
During the 1950s considerable discussion took place among Western European state members of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) about the desirability of forming a free trade area. Agreement was not possible, however, and instead the membership became divided between those states wishing to proceed much further with integration in order to form a customs union and the remainder, led by the UK, wanting to stay with the free trade area idea.
The formation of the European Community (EC) constituent insitution, the European Economic Community (EEC) under the Treaty of Rome in 1957, seemed to settle the issue. In retaliation the British formed the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) under the Stockholm Treaty in 1959. EFTA was a bargaining chip designed to force the EC to expand its membership and to lower the common external tariff. The EC refused to negotiate with EFTA en bloc and in 1961 the British defected to begin access negotiations with the Community.
Free trade areas, as forms of economic integration, were covered by General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Although it might seem that some aspects of the free trade area idea contradict the GATT principle of non-discrimination, exceptions were made in the Agreement for these types of groupings. Currently the Asia-Pacific region is following the lead set by Europe in mid-century. Various forms of economic cooperation are under exploration and more specifically the establishment of NAFTA exemplifies this trend.
(Source: Penguin Dictionary of IR)
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A form of economic uniton between states. In a free trade area the constituent members agree to abolish tariffs and other restrictions on stipulated goods between themselves. However, vis-à-vis the rest of the system they continue to maintain the structure of their existing tariffs. A free trade area is therefore a less integrated system than a customs untion because there is no common external tariff.
Although a free trade area is less integrated it may prove to be just as complicated to implement because rules and procedures have to be agreed to prevent goods entering the area from outside via those member states with the lowest range of tariffs. Without the claer rules about origin, the states with the lowest tariffs will benefit most from a free trade area, because trade and production will be deflected in their favour. Logic would suggest that a free trade area works best where the members have a similar pattern of external tariffs, or where they agree to substantial hamrmonisation of tariffs to reduce differentials. For this reason a free trade area is often seen as the preliminary stage in the formulation of a full customs union.
During the 1950s considerable discussion took place among Western European state members of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) about the desirability of forming a free trade area. Agreement was not possible, however, and instead the membership became divided between those states wishing to proceed much further with integration in order to form a customs union and the remainder, led by the UK, wanting to stay with the free trade area idea.
The formation of the European Community (EC) constituent insitution, the European Economic Community (EEC) under the Treaty of Rome in 1957, seemed to settle the issue. In retaliation the British formed the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) under the Stockholm Treaty in 1959. EFTA was a bargaining chip designed to force the EC to expand its membership and to lower the common external tariff. The EC refused to negotiate with EFTA en bloc and in 1961 the British defected to begin access negotiations with the Community.
Free trade areas, as forms of economic integration, were covered by General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Although it might seem that some aspects of the free trade area idea contradict the GATT principle of non-discrimination, exceptions were made in the Agreement for these types of groupings. Currently the Asia-Pacific region is following the lead set by Europe in mid-century. Various forms of economic cooperation are under exploration and more specifically the establishment of NAFTA exemplifies this trend.
(Source: Penguin Dictionary of IR)
About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
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