Transparency in Trade Negotiations

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how, in the past, mistrust and false pretense in matters of subsidies, hidden tariffs, and environmental issues between countries have caused trade negotiations to be delayed and even fail. According to the paper, in an increasingly globalized marketplace, further use of transparency mechanisms and openness is required in order for future international trade negotiations to fully succeed. This paper demonstrates how, through a critical review of the relevant and peer-reviewed literature, the implementation of a stronger role by organizations such as the UK-backed Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Dispute Settlement Bodies will enhance global economic growth, and contribute to the reduction of poverty.

From the Paper:

"The term, "resource curse," was first coined by Auty (1993) in his essay, "Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies: The Resource Curse Thesis," by which he described a phenomenon in which countries that are naturally endowed with resources, primarily in the developing world, have failed to achieve their full economic potential because of disparate trade policies with developed countries such as the United States. In this regard, Auty reports that, "The conventional view concerning the role of natural resources in economic development has been that the resource endowment is most critical in the early low-income stages of the development process. It assumes that, as development proceeds and a population acquires more and more skills, those skills are deployed with increasing effectiveness to counteract any resource deficiencies" (1993, p. 1). Today, a number of sub-Sahara African nations fall in this category, and Nigeria in particular represents such a country. All of these resource-rich developing countries have inherited a legacy of a colonialist past that has adversely affected their current capacity to compete in the international marketplace while simultaneously attempting to cope with the effects of poor weather conditions, a range of diseases, and a lack of foreign direct investment (Auty, 1993). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Auty, R. M. (1993). Sustaining development in mineral economies: The resource curse thesis. New York: Routledge.
• Cohen, S. D. (2002). Fundamentals of U.S. foreign trade policy: Economics, politics, laws, and issues, 2nd ed. Westview Press.
• Crook, C. (2006, October). The fruitful lie. The Atlantic Monthly, 30.
• Ehrenhaft, P. D. (2001). The role of lawyers in the World Trade Organization. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 34(4), 963.
• EITI criteria. (2006). About EITI: Principles and Criteria. Retrieved November 30, 2006 from http://www.eitransparency.org/section/abouteiti/principlescriteria.

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