Overview
Jonathan's research seeks to highlight the importance of designing good trade policies that take into account informal trade flows, which may allow these trade flows to be brought under the umbrella of regional trade policies. The project focuses on the case study of small-scale cross-border traders in Eastern DRC to explore the challenges faced in the governance of informal cross-border trade (ICBT) in the region. Based on a socio-legal methodology, it uses the public authority approach, which considers other types of governance beyond state-centric lenses, to analyse both public and private governance of ICBT. A particular emphasis is placed on the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Simplified Trade Regime - a regional trade policy supposed to help small-scale cross-border traders benefit from the preferential tariffs applicable between the COMESA Member States. This study is used to highlight the need for trade policies that are more extensive and that can avoid the common issues hampering trade policies like the COMESA STR and preventing small-scale cross-border traders (the majority of which are women) from gaining access to more profitable markets.
This research project is funded by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant.
Jonathan Bashi
Dr Jonathan Bashi is a Law Lecturer at SOAS, University of London. His work and research interests focus on the correlation between international law, trade, and development. His work experience spreads across various sectors, with roles assumed in higher education, in the private sector, as well as in international development.