Risk Regulation, Science, and Interests in Transatlantic Trade Conflicts International Political Economy Series, by David J Hornsby

Abstract

David J Hornsby Risk Regulation, Science, and Interests in Transatlantic Trade Conflicts International Political Economy Series Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. 264 pp., $127.00 (cloth) ISBN: 978-1-137-03416-8David Hornsby's latest book offers a clearly written, comprehensive, and detailed analysis of the intersection of trade politics and science at the World Trade Organization (WTO). His user-friendly account of the ways in which trade policy-makers and decision-makers have considered, used, and occasionally abused science in numerous high-profile transatlantic trade conflicts sets a high standard for unbiased scholarship on the WTO.Hornsby's research covers a wide range of cases where WTO insiders have appraised and applied evidence. His book also advances academic understanding in the field of international political economy. On this front, Hornsby sheds new light on the roles that transnational networks of knowledgebased experts play in informal and formal efforts to resolve trade disputes related to food safety regulations, and to devise policy measures to protect animal and plant health. Were practitioners working on trade and science issues to truly engage with Hornsby's presentation of epistemic communities in conflicts over sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, I believe that they would be better able to draw inferences about the course of future trade disputes in this area. Trade officials, business leaders, and civil society advocates can also garner keen political insights from this rigorous study. This book is consequently a must read for anybody interested in exerting influence on these matters today or tomorrow, and also for those who are simply curious about the transnational politics of science in the world trade system.Hornsby's overarching argument is that WTO members hold divergent views of what constitutes legitimate scientific evidence, and that these divergences matter. European and North American trade policy-makers privilege different types of knowledge. While Europeans take precautionary approaches to regulating food and health safety risks that rely on correlations and hypotheticals, North Americans prefer to regulate such risks with reference only to empirical or theoretical evidence that they understand to be testable and replicable. Hornsby is able to cut through overly politicized, stereotypical takes on these divides and to situate them with reference to a range of fascinating cases. From these we learn that Europeans cannot simplistically be portrayed as the defenders of coddled fat cat farmers or elite food consumers. The Office of the United States Trade Representative, for its part, has not everywhere and always been a stooge for transnational corporate interests. Hornsby argues that as long as these distorted images remain consequential, they risk obscuring the persistence among WTO members of conflicting approaches to engaging with scientific communities.After first presenting an overview of risk and trade issues, and raising the spectre of a transatlantic divide, Hornsby presents his research in three sections. …