Abstract

Several studies have sought to explain the politicization of European Union’s (EU) trade policy during negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA). This article contributes to the literature on the politicization of trade by assessing how politicization is addressed by those tasked with the content and implementation of trade policy, namely the European Commission (hereafter Commission). We identify the origin and definition of managed globalization (MG), and thereafter identify, through a qualitative content analysis of EU Trade Commissioners’ speeches from 2013 to late 2017, how the doctrine re-emerged as the leitmotif<em> </em>of EU trade policy. The Commission’s initial response to civil society organizations’ contestation over TTIP and CETA was to insist on the economic benefits of the agreements. As contestation intensified, we find indirect references to MG, as the Commission focused on clarifying that upholding European values was equally important to market access in EU trade policy. Then, from late 2016 until late 2017, the Commission’s messaging was directed primarily at populist fears of trade and globalization; emphasizing that protectionism was unnecessary, and that globalization could be controlled, culminating in the emergence of explicit references to MG. The article expands on existing research on MG by identifying trade politicization as a factor that prompted a modification and expansion of the MG doctrine and its use, while also discussing some accompanying policy changes.

Highlights

  • Several studies have sought to explain the politicization of European Union’s (EU) trade policy during negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and InvestmentPartnership (TTIP) between the US and the EU, and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada (e.g., Laursen & Roederer-Rynning, 2017; Young, 2018), as well as the European Commission’s re-Politics and Governance, 2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages 290–300 sponse (Eliasson & Garcia-Duran, 2019; Siles-Brügge, 2018; Young, 2019)

  • We show that the Commission’s rhetorical response to the most politicized trade negotiations in EU history was incremental, with three distinct phases, leading to an invocation and solidification of a modified Managed globalization (MG) as the Commission responded to contested trade policies, rising populism, and fears of globalization

  • We find that while the Commission only explicitly began referring to MG after the freezing of Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations in late 2016, MG had already implicitly returned as a guiding principle for trade policy in 2015, manifest in Trade for All (European Commission, 2015)

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Summary

Introduction

Several studies have sought to explain the politicization of European Union’s (EU) trade policy during negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment. This article contributes to these efforts, but more importantly, it focuses on the larger question of the politicization of trade by arguing that the Commission’s response to mobilization against TTIP and CETA was neither completely new, nor specific to these agreements, but rather a modification and expansion of a previously applied doctrine. This matters because the trade doctrine adopted by the Commission is today intended to quell, and incorporate, expressed concerns about the expansion of new issues in trade negotiations; it is used to address rising populism and concerns about globalization.

Rhetorical Responses to Politicization and the Managed Globalization Doctrine
Politicization and Responsiveness
Managed Globalization and Politicization
The Commission’s Rhetorical Response
Operationalizing the Managed Globalization Doctrine
January 2015–November 2016
November 2016–September 2017
The Commission’s Approach and Its Fit with Managed Globalization
Findings
Concluding Discussion
Full Text
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