PUBL0042 International Organizations: Theory and Practice

PUBL0042 International Organizations: Theory and Practice

Quantitative research design

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1. Introduction

What influences economic cooperation between the UK and Europe countries?

Countries cooperation matters vary from trade and economics, politics, security, migration, health, international agreements/laws and sometimes joint military exercises. At the same time, the nation-state and sovereignty influence perceptions about international relations, and the friendliest nations are most likely to co-operate (Keohane, 1992). Economic cooperation can be contentious as states adopt different policies to improve their competitiveness, but still, need to cooperate and sometimes compromise to trade.

Economic cooperation is important as it influences economic policies and growth when there are fewer barriers, but economic diversification and the lack of political will are stumbling blocks towards achieving an agreement (Krause, Suzuki & Witmer, 2006). Furthermore, there are differences in economic development and states have different economic competitiveness. In the EU, German is the strongest economy that is diversified and has a large manufacturing base. President Trump has increasingly focused on protectionism, and there are growing economic tensions with China, and other nations and regions may also increase protectionism.

The UK-US economic partnership is strong as both are part of the Anglo-American culture where both the EU and the US are important trading partners for the UK whereby there are commercial ties, interests, and strategies. Nonetheless, Britain’s move to vote for Brexit to get out of the EU and the economic emergence of China as a major player in different parts of the world will likely influence how the British policymakers choose to cooperate with other states (Jiao, Jafar & Tao, 2018). Shared interests, personal relations among countries, cultural similarities, and even language influence cooperation, whereby the common grounds for cooperation influence trade relations. The literature available discusses the factors influencing trade and economic cooperation.

2. Literature Review

a. Previous research on this topic

The first section of the review highlights the concept of cooperation and includes findings of what influence cooperation among states, with particular emphasis on the UK-EU relationship. The last section highlights conclusions about knowledge on cooperation and are linked to the theoretical argument about cooperation. Protecting trade and economic interests, as well as promoting bilateral trade and investments are top priorities in economic cooperation, but often contentious.

International cooperation and governance are complex, yet most researchers place the state at the center of international relations, and there are many actors. The UK’s relationship with the EU has received much attention after Brexit and looking back at the UK-EU relationship there was more uniformity on international negotiations as there was increased cooperation on international matters, especially security and national defense (Oliver, 2017). In the UK–EU relationship, Britain deals with the EU as a bloc and then has agreements with the non-EU member states based on the strength of the relationships. Meyer (2017) looked into the Swiss model to evaluate the relationship between Switzerland and the EU where the Swiss are not part of the EU but have agreements where the county focus on issues serve their interests and are less willing to negotiate on issues that affect supra-nationalism.

Domestic political institutions and the bargaining process partly explain how the domestic political landscape has influenced international trade cooperation since having a majority in parliament increases the chances that the government will take a more united stand on economic cooperation when compared to a fractured parliament (Da Conceição-Heldt, 2013, Krause, Suzuki & Witmer, 2006). Policy convergence in defense matters appears to influence effective cooperation among European states, and this is relevant to the topic since the researchers highlighted that institutional structures and frameworks do not always result in increased policy convergence between states (Pannier & Schmitt, 2014, Olsson, et al., 2016).

b. Previous research by theme

Evrensel (2009) sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the economic cooperation between the EU and African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries and found out that the cooperation did not improve relations and trade as expected, because the ACP countries lacked strong political and judicial institutions. There are various actors, who influence cooperation of the negotiation and ratification of the international agreements. Yoo & Kim (2016) pointed out that the willingness of the political leaders to embrace cooperation and integration influenced their support for cooperation in East Asia, despite the countries being under vastly different political regimes.

Tayar (2018) looked into what has influenced EU partnership and negotiation with the Latin American countries (LAC) and indicated that in the 21^st century, there were concerns about the weakening of the EU’s position in Latin America, at a time when free trade agreements were more common. Similarly, the liberalization of foreign trade has made it possible for the UK to improve cooperation with other states. The process of regional economic integration in Europe in the 21^st century has mostly occurred with more Eastern European countries joining the bloc, and the political shift towards support for EU then influenced how the UK dealt with the new member countries.

c. Research and own theoretical argument

There are differences in the way states are committed to cooperate, and sometimes there are inconvenient commitments that may force states to sign trade agreements. For instance, the UK had had to abide by the EU terms even when there was a desire to sign bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that were favorable to the British. Most commitments in economic cooperation are favorable since their interests are maintained and states continue cooperating when this improves the trade and economic conditions (Keohane, 1992, Setnikar Cankar, Seljak & Petkovšek, 2014). The case of President Trump trying to renegotiate NAFTA with Canada and Mexico is one example of reneging on cooperation based on the belief that the agreement is unfair to the US and harmed the country’s best interests.

d. Transition to your theoretical argument

Based on the previous studies and literature review, the UK focuses on economic cooperation depending on mutual interests and closeness to the states. The UK is one of the major economies and involvement in foreign trade has allowed the British to be integrated with the EU and non-EU European countries. Furthermore, there is investment cooperation when countries are on friendly terms and here are past relations. Nonetheless, protectionism is one of the stumbling blocks towards economic cooperation between the UK and other states and regions. The US and the EU are still the main hegemonies in global trade, but China is an increasingly powerful actor. Taking into consideration the interests and needs of different parties is necessary to evaluate what influences economic cooperation between the states.

3. Theoretical Argument

a. The theoretical argument about economic cooperation

Economic policies in trade and regulation that promote mutual interests are more likely to foster cooperation among states, and especially when there is political dialogue. The structures established to address cooperation are utilized to address the various areas of interests to the states. Strengthening dialogue on issues closely linked to the trade and economic interests is associated with greater cooperation in matters of common economic interests. Strengthening business relationships ties and cooperation in different industries increase trade, especially, when states share common interests and positions. Economic cooperation between the UK and diverse states with different levels of development within the European region and globally is associated with increasing commercial ties to facilitate trade flows.

Transparency and good governance are necessary for states to have good relationships and cooperate, and provides a good basis for economic integration, and especially now that more countries have adopted market reforms. Economic policies on trade and the regulation of international business activities are part of the economic problem where there is more intense interdependence, which means that solving international economic problems requires international agreements more than ever before. This differs from international coordination on regulation.

Regimes are the organizations, institutions, norms, rules and decision-making procedures regulate the patterns of behavior and influence how institutions operate in different countries and for democratic states, cooperation is more open, and there is greater emphasis on negotiation. However, each state seeks to make greater relative gains and cooperation is at times difficult to achieve. In any case, cooperation may result in states gaining more if the state is already powerful since the state has greater bargaining power, but the state that gains less than expected may sever cooperation, especially when they are in a weaker position than before. For states, the case for cooperation is that there will be gains, but at times there may be a loss of independence, and the state with disproportionate gains is less willing to compromise having made more substantial gains.

It is possible for states to cooperate without regimes as are the case with the US and Israeli governments, which cooperate without formal alliance agreements, but regimes, are still important to foster or derail cooperation. In other words, regimes are necessary but not sufficient to foster cooperation. Consensus does not mean that there is agreement on all objectives and achieving all the objectives, but rather, there is no disruption the basic interests of any state when cooperating. When there are cooperation and the involvement of international institutions, these organizations rely on fixed decision-making procedures and rule, which may impede ...