Geopolitics, Digital Sovereignty…What’s in a Word?

An overlay of digital networks and services often operated by global players encircles and “shrinks” the planet. At the same time, the geopolitical dynamics have entered a cycle of feud for leadership between trade blocs who compete for economic and industrial leadership but also on ethics, values, and political outlook. In this context, governments and lawmakers are struggling to combine the need for global cooperation in digital matters with the imperative to protect their jurisdiction from undue influence and provide economic agents with the means to compete on a global scale. The concept of “digital sovereignty” was carved to address this. Words matter a lot especially when they are meant to translate political goals. We argue that “digital sovereignty” lacks meaning and teeth, while the concept of “strategic autonomy” is more operative, contains in itself the elements of strategic planning, and should lead EU to aim at genuine “digital non-alignment.”

An empirical analysis of African trade blocs effects on the global economy: new evidence from the gravity model

This study employs the gravity model to estimate the extent of the contribution of six African trade blocs to the global economy using the gravity model spanning from 1980 to 2018. The gravity equation that models the export contributions of the six selected African RECs to the global export is estimated. The estimated gravity model reveals that the long run estimations show that the coefficient estimate for SACU and ECCAS are insignificant in the long run while SACU, EAC and ECCAS as RECs, have insignificant contribution to export in the short run. Our findings, after establishing cointegration, on the other hand show that COMESA has the highest contribution to the global exports, followed by EAC, ECOWAS and SADC with ECCAS and SACU the lowest contributors. The highest contribution of COMESA followed by EAC may be due to the growing economy of member countries like Kenya and Rwanda, while that of COMESA and SADC may be as a result of the large economy of Nigeria and South Africa respectively. This study concludes that African countries are emerging with great export potentials, therefore, governments and private sectors should create the necessary incentives and export policies for the realization of these potentials to maximise the global value chain.

The Burden of Infectious Diseases: A Trend Appraisal in Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Trade Blocs

Purpose: The study aimed at presenting a comparative appraisal of the trends of the two most prevalent infectious diseases bedeviling the region: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB). Subject & Methods: Data on fourteen ECOWAS member countries and also fourteen member countries of the SADC bloc. This represents about 93.3% and 87.5% membership of the ECOWAS and SADC blocs respectively. Although the choice of sample size is determined largely by the availability of data, the choices were carefully made to maximize available observation. The data were sourced from World Development Indicators online database published by the World Bank. We use two measures of infectious diseases: the prevalence rate of human immunodeficiency virus and the incidence of tuberculosis. Results: The HIV prevalence rates and incidence of TB were uneven in the two selected trade blocs. The magnitude and the severity of the diseases varied. The burden of both diseases was higher for SADC and lesser for ECOWAS. The average prevalence rate of HIV in the SADC bloc over the study period was 600% of the prevalence rate in ECOWAS (SADC = 12.5%, ECOWAS = 2.1%). Likewise, in the same period, the average TB incidence per 100,000 people was 578.8 and 181.7 respectively in the SADC and ECOWAS blocs. Conclusions: The study finds that the magnitude and severity of the diseases vary widely between the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) trade blocs. And, while concerted efforts at curbing the diseases have yielded results, there is still much to be done in both blocs.

Assessing the Cost of Populism to Global Trade

This chapter assesses the cost of populist protectionism, beginning with the traditional measures of welfare cost from trade restrictions, as well as the institutional disruption it often entails, which amplifies these costs. One distinctive impact of Trump’s trade policies as well as from Brexit, for example, is the uncertainty it creates in the business environment, which itself tends to diminish business investment and trade. Populist protectionism, by flouting established rules, also tends to provoke retaliation, further compounding its cost. The systemic cost of eroding long-standing trade practices and norms also diminishes trust between populist governments and other countries, which may move global trade toward discriminatory, defensive trade blocs. Reduced trust may spill over into nontrade issues in which cooperation is required to solve cross-border or global problems, such as with the coronavirus crisis. Populist restrictions on immigration also have negative trade effects in terms of inefficient labor allocation, reduced output, and diminished trade opportunities.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter reviews the key findings and arguments of this book regarding private regulation. It also looks at other suggestions to reform and improve private regulation which are not canvassed extensively in this book. An important one is to reform the buyer–supplier contract to make the contract “work both ways” — that is, level the playing field so suppliers and workers can sue for buyer compliance. A second concerns institutionalizing unemployment insurance for supply chain workers. Meanwhile, a third suggestion is that global buyers reform their sourcing to source only from countries with good labor standards, or at a minimum, clearly indicate to those country's governments that they will stop sourcing if labor laws are not enforced. Ultimately, private regulation is not a panacea, and researchers have pointed to other steps that could improve working conditions in supply chains. For one thing, national governments need to do a better job enforcing existing labor laws; indeed, it was governments' failure to do so that gave rise to private regulation. Another step is regionalization — harmonizing national labor standards within regional trade blocs through arrangements similar to those employed by the European Union. Moreover, labor standards could be improved if the International Labour Organization (ILO) could be more forceful with its members with respect to adhering to ILO conventions.

Co-opetition Relationships and Evolution of the World Dairy Trade Network: Implications for Policy-Maker Psychology

This study conducted a social network analysis of the evolutionary characteristics of the world dairy trade network based on the overall trade pattern. In addition, the evolution of trade blocs and the co-opetition relationships involving dairy products in major countries were analyzed in terms of supply and demand. The results show that continuous and complex changes have taken place in the world’s dairy trade network since 2001. The number of trade entities in dairy products has stabilized since 2012. At present, approximately 94% of countries (regions) are involved in dairy product trade, such that the world dairy trade network exhibits the small-world effect and scale-free property. The world import pattern for dairy products has changed. While export centers have not changed, import centers have shifted from Europe, America, and East Asia to North America, East Asia, and the Middle East. The world dairy trade network consists of the EU trade bloc headed by Germany, the former Soviet Union–Brazil trade bloc, and the Asia–Australia–America trade bloc. The trade blocs have evolved due to geographical positions, historical cultures, and political relations. In a trade bloc, the diversification of import sources is more prominent in demand countries. European and Asian markets have become the main markets of the major exporters. In this study, the evolutionary characteristics of the world dairy trade network and the co-opetition relationships were analyzed to provide scientific support to inform the development of dairy trade policies. The results can provide technical and psychological support to policy-makers in various countries in their dairy trade decision-making.

Pro-Trade Blocs in the US Congress

Who supports trade in the US Congress? We uncover the ideological space of trade voting, focusing on trade agreements and development policy as two fundamental cleavages around globalization. We then cluster members of Congress into coherent voting blocs, and identify the most pro-trade voting blocs in each Chamber. We find that these blocs: cross party lines; are ideologically heterogeneous; and are over-represented on the committees with jurisdiction over trade. We then examine two leading theories of Congressional voting – on constituency characteristics and campaign contributions – and find support for each using our learned voting blocs. Members of pro-trade blocs have defended their constituents’ and contributors’ interests by speaking out to confront the Trump administration’s protectionism. We conclude that unsupervised learning methods provide a valuable tool for exploring the multifaceted and dynamic divisions which characterize current debates over global economic integration.