Ways to Liberalization: A report on an ongoing research project

The talk presents the theoretical approach, the design of the data collection and some preliminary results of an ongoing research project on economic liberalization in mature democracies. Starting from findings of an analysis of austerity policies, I show that there is hardly the choice to avoid liberalization, but there are several ways of liberalization. Negotiated liberalization is feasible if problem pressures are low and actors have incentives to negotiate. These incentives are outcomes of politico-institutional configurations.

The Preferential Liberalization of Trade in Services: African Perspectives And Challenges

This chapter takes stock of the state of play of preferential trade negotiations in services in Africa. It explores the factors that lie behind the reluctance of African governments to bind service sector policy under international treaties. The chapter chronicles several ongoing initiatives aimed at deepening intra-regional trade and investment among the eight regional economic cooperation areas found on the continent. It also describes external liberalization efforts engaging Africa with the rest of the world in services trade, devoting particular attention to negotiations underway with the European Community (EC) with a view to concluding WTO-compatible Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The chapter draws attention to several novel features of the EC-CARIFORUM EPA in the services field and discusses its possible implications for Africa’s ongoing processes of integration in services markets at both the intra- and extra-regional levels. The chapter concludes with a broader discussion of a range of policy challenges confronting African governments in designing development-enhancing strategies of engagement in services trade negotiations.