AbstractsPolitical Science

Win-sets in a multiple-level game : EU's actor capability in the OECD shipbuilding subsidy talks

by Finn Ola Jølstad




Institution: University of Oslo
Department:
Year: 1996
Keywords: hovedoppgave statsvitenskap DEWEY: sjøtransport:skipsfart:transport: sjøtransport:Skipsfartsmarkeder:transport: sjøtransport:Skipsfartspolitikk:transport: sjøtransport:Skipsfartsøkonomi:transport: næringsøkonomi:Skipsbyggingsindustri:; VDP::240
Record ID: 1285994
Full text PDF: https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/14022


Abstract

WIN-SETS IN A MULTIPLE-LEVEL GAME EU´S ACTOR CAPABILITY IN THE SHIPBUILDING SUBSIDY TACKS The main objective of this study is to illuminate factors which makes it possible for the EU to behave actively and deliberately in relation to other actors in trade negotiations. In other words, it asks the question: How does the European Union 's actor capability decide the win-set formulation in multilateral trade negotiations? EU is regarded as an actor in international trade negotiations as the member states act through the institutions of the EU in the Common Commercial Policy. The EU is given the exclusive authority to enter into international trade agreements on behalf of its member states, and the Commission conduct the negotiations in cooperation with the member states' representatives of the Article 113 Committee. The formal powers of the EU is here called the actor capacity. The actor ability is the way the EU manage to perform this function, and together these two dimensions constitute the EU's actor capability. The actor capability is studied through the process of establishing a win-set, defined as: the set of potential agreements which can conclude an international negotiation at the same time fulfilling the need of ratification by the domestic constituency. In order to study the process of establishing a win-set, a model of EU's policy making in international trade negotiations is presented. At the basis of this model are three levers of analysis: the international lever, the EU lever and the member state lever. These three levers are combined in two interrelated games. The extra-EU game takes place between the EU and external actors in order to establish an agreement of the international negotiations, and the intra-EU game takes place between the Commission and the member states in order to establish the EU position and to achieve ratification in the Council of Ministers. As the levers of analysis in this study are taken as objects of analysis, the EU win-set formulation is studied from seven possible factors of explanation The three contextual variables are: international power-structure, international market-situation and internal market-position, whereas the four causal variables are: internal political position, internal institutions and procedures, strategies of other actors, and finally, economic ideology. From the deductive establishment of an analytical model, the study proceeds through inductive empirical investigation to reveal factors impinging on the EU's actor capability. The single case study design was chosen as the aims of the study were to illuminate factors of explanations and to make a point of departure for further studies of the role of the EU in international trade negotiations. It further puts down a sectoral approach to effectively disentangle the key processes , actors and structures shaping the outcome of the negotiations. The case which is studied is the negotiations which under the auspices of the OECD from 1989 to 1994 led to the "Agreement Respecting Normal Competitive…