Call for Papers: The Political Economy of Liberalizing Trade in Services

The Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has issued a call for papers for a conference on "The Political Economy of Liberalizing Trade in Services," to be held June 14-15, 2010. Here's the call:

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

"THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LIBERALIZING TRADE IN SERVICES"

June 14-15, 2010

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: FEBRUARY 21, 2010.

Trade in services is central to many of the new issues on the trade policy agenda. Policy on trade in services exists in the space between traditional trade negotiations and, among other things, a range of relatively new investment-related measures and labor migration policy. Inadequate conceptualization appears, however, to limit the chances for policy breakthroughs at the multilateral, regional, and bilateral contexts.

In addition, there is a need to better understand the ways in which power structures of states, institutions, lobby groups, and individuals jointly shape markets and systems of economic interaction in the services sectors, and how these affect political processes and structures.
While extensive literature address international trade in services from various angles, much less has been written from an international relations/ political economy perspective.

The goal of the conference is to theoretically and empirically explore whether existing international political economy theories apply to services trade liberalization and how they might be revised. Possible questions which can be examined at the conference:

1. What are the domestic and international political economy determinants for and against services trade liberalization? How do they vary across sectors and modes of supply?

2. How do the partisan and pluralist theories apply to services trade negotiations? What are the different coalitions and alliances? How do they operate in the domestic and international spheres?

3. Can a single analytical framework account for the diversity and variation of services sectors, modes of supply and providers?

4. What is the theoretical distinction, if any, between the liberalization of private and public services trade?

5. What are the similarities and differences between the political economies of goods and services trade? Do multi-level games have similar trajectories in the goods and services sectors? Why do critical provisions in trade liberalization agreements differ between services and goods (e.g. safeguards and enforcement mechanisms)?

6. What can be learned from the international political economy of services trade for (the design of) international cooperation and regimes? What impact does this political economy have on both multilateral and preferential trade negotiations?

7. Does the political economy of services trade liberalization differ between developing and developed economies? In what ways? What are the implications of these differences for multilateral and preferential negotiations and liberalization?

Keynote Speaker:

Mr. Alejandro Jara, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization

Academic Committee:

Dr. Tomer Broude, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law and Department of International Relations

Prof. Michel Kostecki, University of Neuchâtel

Prof. Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Oxford University

Prof. Louis Pauly, Director of the Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto and Editor of International Organization

Prof. Alfred Tovias, Director of the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: FEB. 21, 2010

Paper proposals should include a title, a short 250 word abstract of paper, and name and affiliation of author(s).

Panel proposals should contain a title, a short 250 words abstract of the theme, 2-3 paper proposals (see above), name and affiliation of the chair and optionally a discussant (discussants will otherwise be determined by the conference academic committee). \

All submission(s) should be sent to: servtrade@mscc.huji.ac.il

The Participants will be informed by email of the acceptance of panels and papers by March 16, 2010.

Conference fee is 40 Euros (20 Euros for students and non-OECD country participants). The fee covers participation as well as lunch and refreshments during the conference.

An optional one-day tour of Israel will be offered to participants, the day before the conference, on June 13.

For further information, please visit the website: http://davis.huji.ac.il/eng/activity.asp?cat=128&in=0

or contact:

Daniela Persin: daniela.persin@mail.huji.ac.il

Lior Herman: l.e.herman@lse.ac.uk