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The EU, Africa and Economic Partnership Agreements: unintended consequences of policy leverage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2006

Christopher Stevens
Affiliation:
University of Sussex.

Abstract

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) is negotiating a new trade regime with the European Union (EU), under the threat of increased barriers against its exports if agreement is not reached before 2008. This article examines the potential impact on regional integration of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) being negotiated. Both sides pay lip service to greater regional integration, which is a stated objective of EPAs. But the article provides research evidence suggesting that EPAs will weaken regionalism, and in so doing adds to the literature on what happens when external powers attempt to use leverage to press trade policy change. Based on an analysis of SSA's trade with the EU, the article shows that countries may be encouraged to reinforce rather than eliminate barriers to the free circulation of goods between them, because of the choices they make in the details of their trade regimes with Europe. It also establishes a methodology that can be applied to new data as the negotiations progress.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

He would like to thank Jane Kennan, who undertook all of the analysis of primary data on which this article is based.