Academic Accomplishments within the Free Trade Debate

Abstract

Academic Accomplishments within Free Trade Debate* (von BULOW, Marisa. A batalha do livre comercio: a construcao de redes transnacionais da sociedade civil nas Americas. Sao Paulo: Editora UNESP, 2014)For contemporary reader, especially a young Brazilian academic, it may not be clear that debate on free trade has assumed different nuances since 1990. If at that time issue was strictly related with a neoliberal agenda and, therefore, focused solely on market efficiency while being restricted to a few group of economists and market players, current debate expands well beyond this sphere. Many other agents have joined this debate and by questioning neoliberal economic principles they have complexified and relativized theme of economic efficiency. The reading of Marisa von Billow's book helps to trace these changes with great clarity and methodological precision in regards to involvement of social movements in this agenda within Americas.In her book author analyzes creation of transnational among civil society agents so as to coordinate activities on topics pertaining to international trade. The title the battle is represented within analysis, on one hand, by formation of contestation discourse (Part II - the politicization of trade), and secondly, by forms by which social movements have been organized (Part III - the dynamics of networks - and Part IV - organizational pathways to trans-nationality ). Contestation is therefore under spotlight in this book.When describing battle, Marisa von Billow's research brings conceptual and analytical accomplishments to academic debate on international trade, and its social and civic dimension. The number of skeptics still to this date on role of social movements in this field is not trivial. There is distrust regarding ability to understand technical dimension of international trade regulation, as well as ability of these agents to interfere at different levels of decision-making. The book elucidates formation of transnational social movement and its discourse, identifying actors (name, location and agenda) as well as bases and formation of an articulated contestation discourse (themes and proposals).Networks have been a central issue in social sciences in recent decades: how they are formed, how do they operate, financing forms, and results from this coordination. The book corresponds to von Billow's doctoral thesis at Johns Hopkins University, in United States, being advised by Margareth Keck. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink co-authored one of most influential articles under theme of social movements and their transnational activities (Keck and Sikkink, 1998). Von Billow's text is an application and specification of this larger project from Keck, in tropics. The author analyzes formation of transnational in Americas and focuses on civil society organizations and movements based in Brazil, Chile, United States, and Mexico.The focus in Americas contributes to mapping of a process - participation from civil society -, which still looms in institutional terms, especially in South America. In order to understand key actors and their coordination, it helps to outline potentials and limits of social participation within this particular context of Americas, sub-region of South America and also, more specifically, of Brazil and its foreign policy.Below I point out some key contributions that I identified in Marisa's work for debates concerning international trade, social participation, and institutionalization of participatory mechanisms.Trade without exclusion. The author justifies her thematic selection based on controversy and articulation it has acquired since 1990s (page 25). A first step debunked in book, however, is that such movements are not opposed to capitalism or against trade per se, but against (neoliberal) trade discourse that has prevailed since 1990s (page 70). …