The World Trade Organisation and the future of the multilateral trade system. Using a qualitative methodology to investigate the views of trade policy communities in the major players in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), this project investigates how the WTO can be adapted and strengthened to meet 21st century trade policy challenges. A major outcome will be a deeper understanding of what ails the WTO and how it can be reformed.
The Politicisation of Free Trade Agreements in the US, EU and Australia. This project aims to investigate why free trade agreements are increasingly politicised in liberal democracies. Politicisation has generated widespread public backlash against free trade but has also varied across agreements and countries. The project uses a novel comparative framework to explain the economic and political factors determining free trade agreement politicisation in the US, EU and Australia, actors with the m ....The Politicisation of Free Trade Agreements in the US, EU and Australia. This project aims to investigate why free trade agreements are increasingly politicised in liberal democracies. Politicisation has generated widespread public backlash against free trade but has also varied across agreements and countries. The project uses a novel comparative framework to explain the economic and political factors determining free trade agreement politicisation in the US, EU and Australia, actors with the most trade deals. Expected outcomes include new understandings of public backlash against free trade and globalisation. Expected benefits include recommendations on including civil society in trade policy-making and allaying populist protectionism, without jeopardising economic openness and the rules-based liberal order.Read moreRead less
The New Politics of Trade: Complexity, Innovation and Policy Development in the Asia Pacific Region. In Australia and the Asia Pacific region the negotiation of bilateral, regional and multilateral trade agreements has become a central element of the foreign economic policies of many countries. The outcomes of the project will have particular relevance for Australia: understanding how our trade partners determine their trade agendas, and being able to identify potential allies and obstacles to ....The New Politics of Trade: Complexity, Innovation and Policy Development in the Asia Pacific Region. In Australia and the Asia Pacific region the negotiation of bilateral, regional and multilateral trade agreements has become a central element of the foreign economic policies of many countries. The outcomes of the project will have particular relevance for Australia: understanding how our trade partners determine their trade agendas, and being able to identify potential allies and obstacles to the securing of bilateral trade agreements, is crucial for the successful negotiation and conclusion of trade agreements. This project will contribute to our understanding of how the processes of globalization are reconfiguring interactions between government, business and civil society both within and across national boundaries. Read moreRead less
Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcom ....Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcomes include clarification of the causes and implications of these shifts and innovative understanding of the connection between national security and economic interests in investment. This new knowledge should enhance balance in investment policy and decision-making, with economic and foreign policy benefits for Australia.Read moreRead less
Trade, geopolitics and security: Understanding Japan’s choice of regional free trade agreements. Sino-Japanese strategic rivalry and conflict over maritime territory are increasingly injecting geopolitical and security concerns into the formulation of Japanese trade policy. This project aims to investigate how these newly emerging influences are intersecting with economic and trade priorities in Japan’s choice of regional free trade agreements involving Australia: the Trans-Pacific Economic Part ....Trade, geopolitics and security: Understanding Japan’s choice of regional free trade agreements. Sino-Japanese strategic rivalry and conflict over maritime territory are increasingly injecting geopolitical and security concerns into the formulation of Japanese trade policy. This project aims to investigate how these newly emerging influences are intersecting with economic and trade priorities in Japan’s choice of regional free trade agreements involving Australia: the Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The study will apply the insights gained from the research to deepen our understanding of the nexus between trade and security in Japan’s choice of regional free trade partners and the wider geostrategic implications of this choice for the Asia-Pacific region. Read moreRead less
Explaining Crises: Ideas, Instability and Change from Gold Standard to GFC. This project aims to explain recurring international economic instability. While global orders spanning the Classical Gold Standard, Keynesian Bretton Woods institutions, and contemporary Neoliberal order each provided key sources of stability, each also yielded to crises in the 1930s Great Depression, the 1970s Great Stagflation, and the Global Financial Crisis. To explain such instability, this project advances an inno ....Explaining Crises: Ideas, Instability and Change from Gold Standard to GFC. This project aims to explain recurring international economic instability. While global orders spanning the Classical Gold Standard, Keynesian Bretton Woods institutions, and contemporary Neoliberal order each provided key sources of stability, each also yielded to crises in the 1930s Great Depression, the 1970s Great Stagflation, and the Global Financial Crisis. To explain such instability, this project advances an innovative constructivist argument that ideas which initially enable policymakers to restrain market excesses can over time obscure new sources of instability. Over case studies of these crises, this project will produce high quality publications and contribute to debate over national interests in an era of populist challenge.Read moreRead less
The political-economy of Australia-China relations. This project will analyse the bilateral economic relationship between Australia and China. The principal focus will be on how economic relations have been conditioned by distinctive patterns of economic and political organisation in each country. The approach will draw on and extend the Varieties of Capitalism literature to provide a detailed analysis of the institutional features of the Chinese and Australian economies, and how these instituti ....The political-economy of Australia-China relations. This project will analyse the bilateral economic relationship between Australia and China. The principal focus will be on how economic relations have been conditioned by distinctive patterns of economic and political organisation in each country. The approach will draw on and extend the Varieties of Capitalism literature to provide a detailed analysis of the institutional features of the Chinese and Australian economies, and how these institutions condition the economic relationship between the two. By analysing the different policymaking traditions and business structures the project aims to explain the challenges facing Australia-China economic ties, particularly over the minerals industry, foreign investment and free trade agreement negotiations.Read moreRead less
Building an Indian Ocean region. The Indian Ocean Region, of vital geopolitical importance to Australia, is the heart of the Third World - overwhelmed by chronic poverty, precarious political systems, and conflicting ethno-religious identities. This project will document attempts at constructing regional identities and institutions, and facilitate the process of 'building' a secure Region.
Australia and the OECD: A Neglected Arena in Multi-level Governance. Issues such as trade liberalisation and the development of international agreements are of considerable importance for domestic policy within Australia. Development of such ideas and policies often serve as the basis for subsequent agreements in the multilateral system through policy transfer or the strategy of ?forum shopping?. Australia's interests as a middle power lie in a rules-based system, and thus its ability to maximiz ....Australia and the OECD: A Neglected Arena in Multi-level Governance. Issues such as trade liberalisation and the development of international agreements are of considerable importance for domestic policy within Australia. Development of such ideas and policies often serve as the basis for subsequent agreements in the multilateral system through policy transfer or the strategy of ?forum shopping?. Australia's interests as a middle power lie in a rules-based system, and thus its ability to maximize its effectiveness in shaping those rules is of paramount importance. This project will contribute knowledge which will serve directly this goal, by enhancing our understanding of the OECD as an arena of multilevel governance and Australia's participation within it.Read moreRead less
The Global Governance of Tax and Financial Services: Who Regulates, Who Wins, Who Loses. This project analyses the role of power in the global economy, specifically, whether powerful states can establish global rules concerning tax and financial services by coercion. Large states working through international organisations have floated global tax and financial standards that would regulate international competition for mobile investment but also impose disproportionate costs on small states. If ....The Global Governance of Tax and Financial Services: Who Regulates, Who Wins, Who Loses. This project analyses the role of power in the global economy, specifically, whether powerful states can establish global rules concerning tax and financial services by coercion. Large states working through international organisations have floated global tax and financial standards that would regulate international competition for mobile investment but also impose disproportionate costs on small states. If coercion is cheap and easy to use in solving economic disputes large states will be able to impose these standards on small states. If not, large states will instead have to compromise or offer compensation to establish effective regulations.Read moreRead less