Dr Boram Lee

This course is available on the BSc in International Relations, BSc in International Relations and Chinese, BSc in International Relations and History, BSc in Politics and International Relations, Erasmus Reciprocal Programme of Study and Exchange Programme for Students from University of California, Berkeley. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

This course has a limited number of places (it is capped).

Some background knowledge of international political economy, such as that provided in IR206 International Political Economy, will be useful to students taking this course.

This course examines how politics shape policies and institutions that govern international trade. The course is divided into three modules: i) introduction, ii) theories, and iii) topics in international trade. After the introductory week, the course surveys classical readings that provide different approaches to international trade. During the theory module, students will investigate how geopolitics, interest groups, institutions, and ideas shape international trade. 

Students will compare different arguments and evidence provided by scholars of these traditions and build foundations to apply these perspectives to analysing new topics in international trade. Once the theory module is complete, students will apply these theoretical approaches to new topics in international trade. This module focuses on a variety of topics: trade and climate, trade as a human rights strategy, the World Trade Organization, US-China trade war, populism & trade-related welfare policies, intellectual property rights, and negotiations of bilateral & plurilateral trade deals. Students will examine competing IR and political science theories that explain trade policy outcomes and use those theories in analysing important topics on trade. Most of the required readings are by IR scholars and political scientists who are grappling with international trade policies from political science/IR perspectives. They are recently published journal articles, book chapters, and case studies.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Students will be expected to produce 1 response paper in the WT. Students will respond to an opinion piece written by a trade expert. Students will be required to draw from course readings and respond to the argument proposed by the opinion piece. This will help students prepare for the summative response paper.

Gallagher, Peter, Patrick Low, and Andrew L. Stoler, eds. Managing the challenges of WTO participation: 45 case studies. Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Gowa, Joanne. Allies, adversaries, and international trade. Princeton University Press, 1995.

Mansfield, Edward D., and Diana C. Mutz. "US versus them: Mass attitudes toward offshore outsourcing." World Politics 65.4 (2013): 571-608.

Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi. “Why the World Still Needs Trade.” July/August 2023. Foreign Affairs.

Steinberg, Richard H. "In the shadow of law or power? Consensus-based bargaining and outcomes in the GATT/WTO." International organization 56.2 (2002): 339-374.

Essay (100%, 2000 words).