Getting what you pay for: Authoritarian statism and the geographies of US trade liberalization strategies

Studies in Political Economy

Volumn , Issue 80, 2007, Pages 75-103

  Essex, Jamey ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 38349075964     PISSN: 07078552     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/19187033.2007.11675084     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. United States Trade Representative (USTR), Remarks to Forum Brasil by Christopher A. Padilla, Assistant USTR, US Chamber of Commerce (20 January 2004), p. 2.
2. L. Panitch, "Globalisation and the State," in R. Miliband and L. Panitch, (eds.), Socialist Register 1994: Between Globalism and Nationalism (London: The Merlin Press, 1994), p. 64.
3. N. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism (London and New York: Verso, 1978).
4. B. Jessop, Nicos Poulantzas: Marxist Theory and Political Strategy (London; MacMillan, 1985);
5. B. Jessop, "Globalization and the National State" (Lancaster, UK: Lancaster University, 2003), (accessed 14 November 2005);
6. L. Panitch, "The New Imperial State," New Left Review 2 (March/April 2000), pp. 5-20;
7. L. Panitch and S. Gindin, "American Imperialism and Eurocapitalism: The Making of Neoliberal Globalization," Studies in Political Economy 71/72 (2003/2004), pp. 7-38;
8. N. Poulantzas, Political Power and Social Classes (London: Sheed and Ward, 1973);
9. N. Poulantzas, Classes in Contemporary Capitalism (London: New Left Books, 1975); Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism.
10. Panitch, "The New Imperial State," p. 8;
11. Jessop, "Globalization and the National State," p. 7.
12. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism, p. 225.
13. Ibid., p. 225.
14. Jessop, "Globalization and the National State," p. 13.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.;
17. B. Jessop, The Future of the Capitalist State (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2002).
18. For a similar but Foucauldian analysis of governance and scale, see also W. Larner and M. Butter, "Governmentalities of Local Partnerships: The Rise of a 'Partnering State' in New Zealand," Studies in Political Economy 75 (2005), pp. 85-108.
19. Jessop, "Globalization and the National State," p. 14;
20. Jessop, The Future of the Capitalist State, pp. 51-53.
21. Jessop, "Globalization and the National State," p. 13;
22. E. Swyngedouw, "Authoritarian Governance, Power, and the Politics of Rescaling," Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 18 /1 (2000), pp. 63-76.
23. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism, p. 203.
24. Ibid., p. 205.
25. Ibid., p. 210.
26. Ibid., p. 214.
27. On the geographies of capitalism's crisis tendencies, see D. Harvey, The Limits to Capital (London and New York: Verso, 1999 [1982]).
28. Jessop, "Globalization and the National State," p. 8; see also Jessop, Nicos Poulantzas; Jessop, The Future of the Capitalist State; Panitch, "The New Imperial State"; Panitch and Gindin, "American Imperialism."
29. Panitch, "The New Imperial State," p. 10.
30. Panitch and Gindin, "American Imperialism," p. 15.
31. Ibid., p. 17.
32. J. Glassman, "The New Imperialism? On Continuity and Change in US Foreign Policy," Environment and Planning A 37/9 (2005), pp. 1527-1544;
33. D. Harvey, The New Imperialism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003);
34. D. Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005);
35. N. Smith, American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003);
36. D. Slater and P.J. Taylor, (eds.), The American Century: Consensus and Coercion in the Projection of American Power (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999).
37. Glassman, "The New Imperialism?," p. 1531.
38. Panitch, "The New Imperial State," p. 16.
39. Wilbur Mills, quoted in S. Dryden, Trade Warriors: USTR and the American Crusade for Free Trade (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 52.
40. Dryden, Trade Warriors, p. 55.
41. United States Trade Representative (USTR), "History of the United States Trade Representative" (Washington, 2004), (accessed 19 April 2006).
42. Dryden, Trade Warriors, p. 120.
43. Ibid., p. 165.
44. USTR, "History."
45. Dryden, Trade Warriors, W.A. Lovett, A.E. Eckes Jr., and R.L. Brinkman, US Trade Policy: History, Theory and the WTO (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999).
46. Dryden's history of USTR, the most comprehensive account of the agency's development, devotes many pages to Bob Strauss' tenure as STR. Strauss laid the groundwork for future USTR heads with his blunt negotiating style, devotion to free trade principles, and ability to "sell" any agreement to Congress.
47. USTR, "History."
48. United States General Accounting Office, USTR's Draft Strategic Plan (Gaithersburg, MD: GAO, 1997).
49. USTR, "History."
50. Panitch, "Globalisation and the State," p. 64.
51. I. Grabel, "The Political Economy of 'Policy Credibility': The New-Classical Macroeconomics and the Remaking of Emerging Economies," Cambridge Journal of Economics, 24/1 (2000), pp. 1-19.
52. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism, p. 225.
53. USTR, "Mission of the USTR" (Washington, 2004), (accessed 19 April 2006).
54. J.J. Schott, "Assessing US FTA Policy," in J.J. Schott, (ed.), Free Trade Agreements: US Strategies and Priorities (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 2004), p. 376. Schott's work was published by the Institute for International Economics, a think tank strongly favouring free trade. That Schott's volume is critical of US free trade strategies demonstrates the difficulties USTR faces in maintaining its political power in relation to fractious capital interests, other US state institutions, and popular struggles.
55. Ibid., p. 376.
56. USTR, "Mission."
57. Free trade proponents often describe environmental and labour groups that oppose liberalization as a "blue-green coalition," and unceremoniously lump them together with various protectionist blocs and a largely unspecified group of other globalization critics.;
58. See, for example, R.E. Feinberg, "The Political Economy of United States' Free Trade Agreements," The World Economy 26/7 (2003), pp. 1019-1040.
59. USTR, "Mission"; USTR, "List of USTR Advisory Committees" (Washington, 2004), http://www.ustr.gov/Who_We_Are/ List_of_USTR_Advisory_Committees.html (accessed 19 April 2006).
60. USTR, "Mission."
61. M. Noland, "Chasing Phantoms: The Political Economy of USTR," International Organization 51/3 (1997), p. 367.
62. USTR, "Mission."
63. Ibid.
64. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism, p. 224.
65. USTR, "Free Trade and the Hemispheric Hope": Remarks of Robert B. Zoellick, USTR, Council of the Americas, Washington, DC, 7 May2001, p. 2. Zoellick served as USTR during President George W. Bushs first term in office, but returned to the State Department as Deputy Secretary of State in Bush's second term.
66. Ibid., p. 2.
67. Feinberg, "The Political Economy of US FTAs."
68. USTR, Partnership for Prosperity: Chile, Latin America, and the United States;
69. Robert B. Zoellick, USTR, Chilean-American Chamber of Commerce, Santiago, Chile (4 April 200 1), p. 12.
70. United States Congress, Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on International Trade, Status of the Free Trade Area of the Americas: Negotiations and Preparations for the Miami Ministerial; Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International Trade of the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, 108th Congress, Ist Session (13 May 2003), p. 6.
71. USTR, US-Brazil Relations in the Context of the FTAA Negotiations; Remarks of Peter F. Allgeier, Deputy USTR, Brazil Summit 2004 (27 April 2004), p. 4.
72. Such frustration is exhibited in statements such as those of Deputy USTR Jeffrey Lang, who suggested that achieving meaningful consensus among WTO members "is like herding cats most of the time," hardly a ringing endorsement of the WTO;
73. United States Congress, Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on International Trade, Market Access Issues for US Agricultural Exports: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International Trade of the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, 105th Congress, 1st Session (15 May 1997), p. 19.
74. J.F. Hornbeck, The US-Chile Free Trade Agreement: Economic and Trade Policy Issues (Washington: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2003), p. 3.
75. E. Gresser, The US - Chile Free Trade Agreement: Concrete Benefits, Strategic Value (Washington: Progressive Policy Institute, 2001), p. 1.
76. USTR, Free Trade and the Hemispheric Hope, p. 3.
77. Feinberg, "The Political Economy of US FTAs," p. 1022.
78. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism; Jessop, "Globalization and the National State," p. 4.
79. Feinberg, "The Political Economy of US FTAs"; Schott, "Assessing US FTA Policy."
80. See Hornbeck, The US - Chile Free Trade Agreement; USTR, Free Trade and the Hemispheric Hope; USTR, Partnership for Prosperity; USTR, Completing Latin America's Twin Revolutions; Address to the Council of the Americas by Robert B. Zoellick, USTR (7 May 2002);
81. USTR, Trading in Freedom: The New Endeavor of the Americas; Address to the Miami Herald's Sixth Annual Americas Conference by Robert B. Zoellick, USTR (14 October 2002).
82. S. Weintraub, "Lessons from the Chile and Singapore Free Trade Agreements," in J.J. Schott, (ed.), Free Trade Agreements, p. 84.
83. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism, p. 225.
84. Ibid., p. 226.
85. US Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service, Agricultural Trade and the Proposed Round of Multilateral Negotiations: Report Prepared at the Request of Peter Flanigan, Assistant to the President for International Economic Affair, for the Council on International Economic Policy (Committee print) (Washington, 1973).
86. United States Congress, "The Flanigan Report on Agriculture Trade Policy [Statements by Senator Hubert H. Humphrey]," Congressional Record - Senate (12 April 1973), p. 12031.
87. G. Biglaiser, D.J. Jackson, and J.S. Peake, "Back on Track: Support for Presidential Trade Authority in the House of Representatives," American Politics Research 32/6 (2004), pp. 679-697;
88. G.C. Hufbauer and B. Goodrich, "Lessons from NAFTA," in J.J. Schott, (ed.), Free Trade Agreements, pp. 37-50.
89. USTR, Free Trade and the Hemispheric Hope, p. 7.
90. USTR, Completing Latin America's Twin Revolutions, p. 7.
91. Hornbeck, The US-Chile Free Trade Agreement, p. 3.
92. A. Bianchi, Towards a Chile-United States Free Trade Agreement (speech before the Global Business Dialogue and the National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, DC, 7 March 2002) (Washington: Embassy of Chile, 2002), p. 7.
93. USTR, Trading in Freedom, p. 6.
94. USTR, Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in Cotton, Peanuts, Planting Seeds and Tobacco, The US - Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA): Report of the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Cotton, Peanuts, Planting Seeds and Tobacco, February 2003, p. 6.
95. H. Rosen, "Free Trade Agreements as Foreign Policy Tools: The US-Israel and US-Jordan FTAs," in J.J. Schott, (ed.), Free Trade Agreements, p. 75.
96. USTR, Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in Sweeteners and Sweetener Products, The US - Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) (25 February 2003), p. 3.
97. Ibid., p. 3;
98. USTR, Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in Sweeteners and Sweetener Products, The US - Central American Free Trade Agreement (FTA) (19 Match 2004), p. 11.
99. Ibid., p. 9.
100. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism, p. 247.
101. USTR, Christopher A. Padilla, p. 2.
102. J. Peck, "Neoliberalizing States: Thin Policies/Hard Outcomes," Progress in Human Geography 25/3 (2001), pp. 448-449.
103. Poulantzas, State, Power, Socialism.