Alasdair Young
Funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, RES-062-23-1369 (2009-2011)
International cooperation is becoming increasingly institutionalization. The extent to which this development implies a transfer of political authority depends on how assiduously governments conform to international rules that conflict with domestic preferences. Empirical evaluation of the impact of international rules on domestic policies has, however, been limited. This project, which was funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, considers the impact of the World Trade Organization – one of the world’s most highly institutionalized international organizations – on the European Union. It finds that WTO rules and rulings have a marked impact on the EU policy process, but that this impact is extensively mediated by domestic political actors. In addition, this project found that actors’ interpretations of the implications of adverse WTO rulings overwhelmingly reflect their preferences regarding the challenged policy. Those that opposed the existing policy were more likely to invoke the WTO ruling as requiring radical change, while those that supported the policy tended to argue that marginal changes would be sufficient to achieve compliance. Because of the important mediating role of domestic actors, the impact of WTO obligations on EU policy varies considerably across policies. Policy changes have been most pronounced where WTO obligations reinforced an on-going policy change or destabilized an already fragile political balance. Where there was concerted opposition to policy change, WTO obligations had a negligible impact. That the implications of WTO obligations are highly contested in the EU policy process and have varied impacts on policies suggests that there has not been a transfer of political authority to the WTO.
Papers and events
11/1/2021 Alasdair Young presented “Supplying Compliance with Trade Rules: Explaining the EU’s Responses to Adverse WTO Rulings,” to the Edinburgh University International Relations Group.
10/28/2021 Alasdair Young’s book Supplying Compliance with Trade Rules: Explaining the EU’s Responses to Adverse WTO Rulings published by Oxford University Press.
Alasdair Young, “Where’s the demand? Explaining the EU’s surprisingly constructive response to adverse WTO rulings,” Journal of European Integration, 41/1, 2019, 9-27.
16-18 May 2018 Alasdair Young presented “Supplying Compliance? Explaining the EU’s Response to Adverse WTO Rulings,” paper to the European Union in International Affairs VI Conference, Brussels. Selected as one of the three best papers at the conference.
4/4-7/2018 Alasdair Young presented “Contested Compliance: Explaining Whether, Why and How the European Union Complies with Its Multilateral Trade Obligations,” to the International Studies Association 59th Annual Conference, San Francisco.