Journal of Contemporary European Research (Oct 2013)
Journal of Contemporary European Research User You are logged in as... jcer_editor My Profile Log Out Subscribe... Sign up for issue alerts Follow JCER on Twitter Font Size Make font size smaller Make font size default Make font size larger Journal Content Search Search Scope Browse By Issue By Author By Title Information For Readers For Authors For Librarians Journal Help Keywords CFSP Communication ESDP EU EU enlargement EU trade policy Energy, EU, External Policy Europe European Commission European Parliament European Union European integration Europeanisation Euroscepticism First Enlargement Germany Liberty Lisbon Treaty Poland Russia Security The UACES Blog Power shift? The EU’s pivot to Asia 100 Books on Europe to be Remembered For a Global European Studies? EU Member State Building in the... Same aims, different approaches?... Open Journal Systems Home About User Home Search Current Archives Announcements UACES Home > Vol 9, No 4 (2013) > De Ville The Promise of Critical Historical Institutionalism for EU Trade Policy Analysis
Abstract
This paper aims to convince the reader of the potential of a critical version of historical institutionalism (HI) as a theoretical perspective for EU trade policy analysis. It argues that critical HI sensitises the analyst to important but hitherto often neglected factors including: the influence of the past on EU trade policy; the complex, multiarena and multilevel nature of contemporary trade policy; and issues of distributional conflict. The core concept in critical HI is ‘reactive sequencing’, conceiving of policy evolution as a chain of events produced by reactions and counter-reactions. This paper demonstrates that this is invaluable to understand contemporary EU trade politics. Some examples of EU trade policy decisions and its general strategic evolution since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round are given to show the value of critical HI. Finally, the external dimension of “Europe 2020” as the latest trade policy strategy is analysed from a critical historical institutionalist angle.
