State and Trade

In the age of globalisation, goods, services, labour and capital are crossing international borders on a scale never before known. They are creating a nationless market. Governed by both the invisible hand of business and interest and the visible hand of authority and direction, a world market can be a free-for-all, but it can also be constrained by the national interest of countries that differ greatly in their social institutions and material circumstances. This book provides a lucid and comprehensive account of contemporary international political economy. Beginning with the ideological underpinnings, it examines the globalisation of trade in goods and services and labour and capital. It relates the free economic market to social consensus and political regulation, both within sovereign countries and at the supra-national level. The book is comprehensive and interdisciplinary, incorporating philosophical, political, social and economic insights on an international scale and applying them directly to the ongoing phenomenon of globalisation. Topical and non-nation specific, it covers the WTO, EU, the transfer of technology, the multinational corporation, the exchange rate, free versus regulated trade, the status of agreements and blocs, as well as contemporary issues such as populism, xenophobia and rapid economic growth in both rich and poor nations. Accessible to specialists, students and the informed reader alike, State and Trade offers wide-ranging analysis of the politics of trade in goods and services, international investment and the migration of labour across the globe.