Consent and Trade
Trading Freely in a Global Market

A new take on trade law's roots in consensual exchange, illuminating coercive and exploitative dynamics undercutting both consent and trade.

Frank J. Garcia (Author)

9781108473255, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 December 2018

236 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.7 cm, 0.47 kg

'Frank J. Garcia is a leading voice in bringing theories of global justice in contact with the institutions of international trade. His new book Consent and Trade is a remarkable achievement and a must read for anyone interested in understanding why we have to take questions about the fairness of international trade seriously. It is an important book, coming at a time when our settled understandings of how international trade and policy operate are under serious challenge.' John Linarelli, Durham University

In a time of changing trade norms, when free trade seems to be giving way to new kinds of nationalism, some fundamental questions about trade are still not being asked. Is trade consensual or coercive? Is 'free trade' as currently practiced really free? If not, what difference can trade law make in addressing economically oppressive practices that nationalistic trade policies cannot? In this book Garcia offers an examination of trade law's roots in consensual exchange, highlighting the central role of consent in differentiating trade from legally facilitated coercion, exploitation or predation. The book revisits the premise of consensual exchange which underlies the rhetoric of 'free trade', and then examines the social and political conditions that are a necessary part of a more genuine trade law system, in service of the idea that recovering consent in trade law can promote human flourishing on a global scale.

Introduction
1. Consent and trade
2. Consent, oppression, and contemporary trade agreements
3. (Re)building trade agreements
4. Consensual trade and the twenty-first-century global economy
Conclusion
Index.

Subject Areas: International economic & trade law [LBBM], International law [LB], International business [KJK], International trade [KCLT], International economics [KCL], Economics [KC], International relations [JPS]