Free Trade Debate

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: Good, Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH, course: Democratic Governance, language: English, abstract: In the age of unprecedented global integration, free trade has become a buzzword. However, before going any further into the topic, it¿s essential to acknowledge the fact that there¿s no such thing as free trade. There have always been legal barriers to trade from every country. Free trade, therefore, actually refers to trade with minimum degrees of protectionism as well as efforts to mitigate these barriers.In our modern time, free trade is often hailed as the source of prosperity and integration, but at the very same time, is condemned as the culprit of many of the world¿s problems. Free trade has never failed to become the bone of contention in the global scale. Arguments for and against free trade are numerous and take the stand based on various fields including economics, morality, socio-politics. To get a better understand of the issue, it¿s necessary to first understand the reasons behind every supporting or proposing opinion. Based on the knowledge of the conflicting forces, a prospect of resolution may have a better chance to emerge. In this essay, the free trade debate will be unfolded from the eyes of the developed world who has always been the drivers and determinants of international trade. Here, the tool of analysis is the Cultural Theory (Douglas 1987). According to The Cultural Theory, public opinions in every issue can be organized into four distinct categories: individualism, egalitarianism, hierarchy and fatalism. These four ways of life has mutually contradicting rationalities, which explains the widespread disagreement in public debates. Therefore, a clumsy solution that manages to combine certain elements of the four views is decisive in creating a sustainable solution.