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Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations

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  • Dirk De Bièvre

    (Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium)

  • Arlo Poletti

    (Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy)

Abstract

Over the last decade, European Union (EU) trade agreement negotiations in the form of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada have been strongly contested. By contrast, many other EU trade negotiations have sailed on with far less politicization, or barely any at all. In this contribution, we assess a series of plausible explanation for these very varying degrees of politicization across EU trade agreement negotiations—conceived of as the combination of polarization of opinions, salience given to them in public debate, and the expansion of the number of societal actors involved therein. Through a review of existing explanations, we show how each of these explanations faces a set of challenges. In the third section, we argue it is useful to conceive of these existing explanations as structural background conditions enabling agency on the part of interest group and civil society organizations. We therefore close by sketching how literature on the relationship between interest group mobilization and public opinion could inform further comparative research on trade policy negotiations, and on politicization of EU policy making in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Dirk De Bièvre & Arlo Poletti, 2020. "Towards Explaining Varying Degrees of Politicization of EU Trade Agreement Negotiations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 243-253.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v8:y:2020:i:1:p:243-253
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v8i1.2686
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    Cited by:

    1. Aukje van Loon, 2020. "The Selective Politicization of Transatlantic Trade Negotiations," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 325-335.
    2. Bart-Jaap Verbeek, 2022. "Embedded Neoliberalism and the Legitimacy of the Post-Lisbon European Union Investment Policy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(3), pages 110-120.
    3. Andrea C. Bianculli, 2020. "Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 254-265.
    4. Dirk De Bièvre & Patricia Garcia-Duran & Leif Johan Eliasson & Oriol Costa, 2020. "Editorial: Politicization of EU Trade Policy Across Time and Space," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 239-242.
    5. Anke Moerland & Clara Weinhardt, 2020. "Politicisation ‘Reversed’: EU Free Trade Negotiations with West Africa and the Caribbean," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(1), pages 266-276.

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