Principal Investigator: Professor Kalypso Nicolaidis and Dr Carolyn Deere

Programme Director: Emily Jones

Most decision makers today share the view that international trade is a force for good in a globalising world. They may generally be right, but as tensions about growing inequalities and environmental risks in the global economic system increase, we need to ask again: under what conditions can trade be a force for good? How can lofty and vague principles such as fairness, human rights, justice or equity be applied in a world where patterns of globalised production and consumption reflect the logic of a global market?

The aim of this project is to articulate alternatives visions of a global political ethics relevant to trade issues. We critically examine the ethical dimensions of global trade by bringing together two scholarly worlds, namely trade specialists on one hand and political philosophy and normative theory on the other. In doing so, we hope to bring new insights to the perennial debates on WTO reform and more generally the sustainability of the global trading system.

Full description of the project (pdf).

Upcoming Events:

Hilary Term 2012: Global Trade Ethics Lunchtime Seminar Series: Please check back in early January 2012 for details.

Recent Events

Publications

Funding

The project is currently being supported by the ‘Politics Economics and Global Governance: European Dimensions’ Project http://pegged.cepr.org/.

In the past we have received funding from the German Marshall Fund of the United States.