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Open-Economy Politics
Robert H. Bates
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Coffee, Society, and Power in Latin America (Johns Hopkins Studies in Atlantic History and Culture)
ASIN: 0691005192 |
Book Description
Coffee is traded in one of the few international markets ever subject to effective political regulation. In Open-Economy Politics, Robert Bates explores the origins, the operations, and the collapse of the International Coffee Organization, an international "government of coffee" that was formed in the 1960s. In so doing, he addresses key issues in international political economy and comparative politics, and analyzes the creation of political institutions and their impact on markets. Drawing upon field work in East Africa, Colombia, and Brazil, Bates explores the domestic sources of international politics within a unique theoretical framework that blends game theoretic and more established approaches to the study of politics.
The book will appeal to those interested in international political economy, comparative politics, and the political economy of development, especially in Latin America and Africa, and to readers wanting to learn more about the economic and political realities that underlie the coffee market. It is also must reading for those interested in "the new institutionalism" and modern political economy.
Book Description
A leading economic journalist explains why Washington's responses to globalization have created a global worker surplus that undermines both American workers and those in developing nations.
As evidenced by the WTO riots in Seattle in December 1999, there is a volatile debate among Americans over how the new world economy affects our standards of living and our country's chances for future prosperity. With giant multinational companies based in the U.S. and other wealthy countries transferring ever more factories and labs to poorer countries, the fear is that slave-wage workers overseas are undermining the bargaining power of labor in the industrialized world.
As evidenced by the WTO riots in Seattle in December 1999, there is a volatile debate among Americans over how the new world economy affects our standards of living and our country's chances for future prosperity. With giant multinational companies based in the U.S. and other wealthy countries transferring ever more factories and labs to poorer countries, the fear is that slave-wage workers overseas are undermining the bargaining power of labor in the industrialized world.
In this book Alan Tonelson explains how a competition has emerged in which countries with the weakest workplace safety laws, the lowest taxes, and the toughest unionization laws win investment from American and European countries. Tonelson argues that this "race to the bottom" of labor standards has been the driving force behind the decline of American living standards for the past quarter century, and, as we have already begun to see, will cause even bigger problems for the worldwide economy as it continues.
Tonelson analyzes how the entry of such population giants as China, India, and Brazil into the global market have added fuel to the eroding labor standards. He reveals how an ever larger share of the foreign competition faced by American laborers is hitting not just fields such as apparel and toys, but many of America's highest wage industries such as aerospace and software. And he describes how the reeducation and retraining programs that political leaders say is the remedy to the problem will do nothing to help most Americans cope with competition from the global workforce.
A lively, provocative guide to the new global economy, The Race to the Bottom fills the gap of hard evidence in readable form in the globalization debate, providing the guidebook that American workers have been waiting for, and the indictment that our economic and policy establishments have been dreading.
Customer Reviews:
Dated would like to see a new updated edition.......2007-01-02
I'd like to see this book be updated so that it addresses current conditions, as it is now quite dated. Many of the premises have not come to pass, although some have. The global economy is booming, but how is the U.S. economy really doing considering the savings rate in the U.S. was below 0 last year and the trade deficit is so large? Unemployment in the U.S. is down, but what is the nature of the jobs workers in the U.S. are doing now, in comparison to the nature of those jobs when the book was first written? What predictions have come to pass and which ones have not come to pass?
Real free trade is based on comparative advantage,not absolute advantage and offsets.......2006-01-17
Tonelson has done an excellent job of empirically demonstrating the irreparable harm being done to the American industrial manufacturing sector, resulting from the pseudo-free trade argument that currently masquerades by the name of globalization.The entire globalization argument rests on an appeal to absolute advantage(for example,American firms should locate their factories and production facilities where labor costs are the lowest).Free trade is based on comparative advantage,not absolute advantage.American firms are free to locate production facilities in foreign countries as long as the output produced from these facilities is used to supply the foreign market.The output can't be shipped back to the home market without violating the basic rules of comparative advantage.Any requirement by a foreign country that ,in order for American firms to locate production facilities in that country,the American firms must hand over or share their technological breakthroughs,inventions,patents,or innovations involves a direct violation of the theory of trade between counties based on the existing comparative advantages that exist in both countries industries.Unfortunately,Tonelson does not spell this out clearly,although his discussions on pp.97-98 demonstate that the correct definition of comparatve advantage has been replaced by one that has no connection to the meaning of the term as used by Adam Smith or David Ricardo.I have deducted one star for this omission.
Kaleem needs and education!.......2005-12-04
Kaleem 9984....LOL....THIS dudes a hypocrit! First of all...a foreigner (who's probably an Indian programmer) is not a impartial reviewer. I am a programmer and work with numerous foreigners...BTW they are not as talented as rumor has it. They frequently lie on their resumes to get into positions and...as evidenced by the exporation of NUMEROUS PROGRAMMING jobs back to India...they are not loyal to this country or any corporation that hired them on the H1b visa (a political bill that was fronted by american corporations). This book however...is right on target.
Kaleem should speak in terms of the substance of the book..and not of other reviewers who may differ from his opinion. I believe, as many americans, that we should no longer import items from other countries...we don't need them.
Whats wrong with amazon.......2005-11-11
Whats wrong with Amazon how could they put review by this person - " John W. Runyan III "Too much time on my hands " in spotlight. It's clearly evident he is one of those people who have some small town mentality, come with a preconceived opinion which will never change and probably didnt read the book and wrote a review.
By the way talking of indian programmers, I am a development manager and work with lots of them. They are helping our economy in many ways. I seen that most americans do not go to school, do not have strong mathematical background, do not have strong analytical skills, this is where the indians are useful. Most of them I see have their Master's degree and often have strong engineering backgrounds. If you are a programmer you would know how useful these skills can be. In my experience americans are generally good with the quality-assurance, management level or business side of work. Leave the hard-core intense programming to the foreigners, they seem to do it better.
No better book for understanding the truth about "free trade.......2004-08-05
I have ready many books about globalization and its effects, but Alan Tonelson's "The Race to the Bottom: Why a Worldwide Worker Surplus and Uncontrolled Free Trade are Sinking American Living Standards" is the ONLY book to explain the truth behind globalization. If the US public understood just simple facts, like the difference between producer goods and consumer goods, it would be clear why the US has the most massive trade deficit in history; and the US public would demand that congress act to stop the fast track legislation given to the president. (This is being carried out now by Bush, but was negotiated under Clinton. In other words, both parties are complicit in the destruction of the US middle class.)
As Tonelson says, "Current globalization policies have plunged the great majority of U.S. workers into a great worldwide race to the bottom, into a no-win scramble for work and livelihoods with hundreds of millions of their already impoverished counterparts across the globe. In addition, by sapping the earnings power of U.S. consumers, who are almost single-handedly propping up the world economy despite their sagging earnings, continuing this race could all too easily bring the global financial house of cards tumbling down."
Tonelson doesn't merely make a statement like this, he proves it with expert economic analysis that he explains clearly to the lay public.
Read this book and act on it, before the U.S. middle-class is further eroded.
Book Description
"The New Politics of American Trade: Trade, Labor and the Environment", supplement to "American Trade Politics" by I.M. Destler and Peter J. Balint, shows how trade advocates and labor and environmental skeptics differ significantly in both their substantive views and their political and organizational cultures. The authors demonstrate how this new challenge differs from that of traditional trade protectionism, likening it instead to the debate a century ago over whether and how to regulate American capitalism for social purposes. The analysis leads to a set of recommendations aimed at constructive compromise and a new political foundation for US trade policy leadership.
The New Politics of American Trade: Trade, Labor, and the Environment ISBN 0881322695
American Trade Politics, 3rd Edition ISBN: 0881322156
American Trade Politics and New Politics of American Trade Supplement, ISBN 088132292X
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Politics, Process, and American Trade Policy (Michigan Studies in International Political Economy)
Sharyn O'Halloran
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
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ASIN: 0472105167 |
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Offers important new insights into how American trade policy is set.
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The history of modern liberalism has been hotly debated in contemporary politics and the academy. Here, Judith Stein uses the steel industry—long considered fundamental to the U.S. economy—to examine liberal policies and priorities after World War II. In a provocative revision of postwar American history, she argues that it was the primacy of foreign commitments and the outdated economic policies of the state, more than the nation's racial conflicts, that transformed American liberalism from the powerful progressivism of the New Deal to the feeble policies of the 1990s.
Stein skillfully integrates a number of narratives usually treated in isolation—labor, civil rights, politics, business, and foreign policy—while underscoring the state's focus on the steel industry and its workers. By showing how those who intervened in the industry treated such economic issues as free trade and the globalization of steel production in isolation from the social issues of the day—most notably civil rights and the implementation of affirmative action—Stein advances a larger argument about postwar liberalism. Liberal attempts to address social inequalities without reference to the fundamental and changing workings of the economy, she says, have led to the foundering of the New Deal state.
Book Description
Until the New Deal, most groups seeking protection from imports were successful in obtaining relief from Congress. In general the cost of paying the tariffs for consumers was less than the cost of mounting collective action to stop the tariffs. In 1934, with the passage of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, all of this changed. The six decades that followed have produced a remarkable liberalization of trade policy in the United States. This occurred despite the fact that domestic politics, according to some of the best developed theories, should have prevented this liberalization.
Michael Gilligan argues that liberalization has succeeded because it has been reciprocal with liberalization in other countries. Our trade barriers have been reduced as an explicit quid pro quo for reduction of trade barriers in other countries. Reciprocity, Gilligan argues, gives exporters the incentive to support free trade policies because it gives them a clear gain from free trade and thus enables the exporters to overcome collective action problems. The lobbying by exporters, balancing the interests of groups seeking protection, changes the preferences of political leaders in favor of more liberalization.
Gilligan tests his theory in a detailed exploration of the history of American trade policy and in a quantitative analysis showing increases in the demand for liberalization as the result of reciprocity in trade legislation from 1890 to the present. This book should appeal to political scientists, economists, and those who want to understand the political underpinnings of American trade policy.
Michael J. Gilligan is Assistant Professor of Politics, New York University.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful scholarship, clear, convincing.......1999-09-24
Gilligan's clear writing and fascinating historical evidence make his arguments compelling and totally convincing.
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Government, Business, and the American Economy
Robert Langran
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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ASIN: 0742553248 |
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This current and inclusive book discusses the role of government in American economy—covering such topics as antitrust laws, deregulation of communication, consumer protection, employment policy, and the roles of special interest groups. A look at international trading blocks, and America in a global economy, provides readers with an understanding of the far reaching effects of government on the U.S., and gives them a wealth of knowledge valuable in their everyday life as American citizens and consumers. Chapter topics include government regulation; the Supreme Court and the Sherman Act, Federal Trade Commission, and Clayton Acts; employment policies; environmental protection; deregulation of transportation, financial institutions, and communications; foreign trade; international trade; and the United States in a world economy. For individuals interested in learning more about the ways in which the government impacts the American economy—ranging from taxing to spending, and economic to social regulation.
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"Capitalism is the most successful wealth-creating economic system the world has ever known," declares Robert Gilpin. Yet it has skeptics. "Individual nations and powerful groups within nations that believe the world economy functions unfairly and to their disadvantage, or who wish to change the system to benefit themselves to the detriment of others, are an ever-present threat to the stability of the system." The task, then, is to ensure its survival through wise leadership that provides fair rules governing trade, investment, and currency. At a time when the economies of the world appear more linked than ever, and the tug of even further internationalization feels irresistible, Gilpin says nothing is inevitable. The whole system must rest on secure political foundations--foundations that Gilpin argues have weakened since the end of the cold war. "Growing concern over economic globalization and increased competition have intensified the movement toward economic regionalism and the appeal of protectionism," he writes. The Challenge of Global Capitalism was actually completed before the World Trade Organization's disastrous 1999 meeting in Seattle; after watching the protests unfold there, even the most Pollyannaish observers must admit that Gilpin warns of a real threat. His book will appeal mainly to economists, but serious nonspecialists will also find its sober prose accessible. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Many individuals proclaim that global capitalism is here to stay. Unfettered markets, they argue, now drive the world, and all countries must adjust, no matter how painful this may be for some. Robert Gilpin, author of the widely acclaimed Political Economy of International Relations (Princeton, 1987), urges us, however, not to take an open and integrated global economy for granted. Rather, we must consider the political circumstances that have enabled global markets to function and the probability that these conditions will continue. Gilpin's new book amounts to a magisterial inquiry into all major aspects of the contemporary world political economy. Beginning with the 1989 end of the Cold War and the subsequent collapse of communism, it focuses on globalization and rapid technological change and covers a broad sweep of economic developments and political cultures. Gilpin demonstrates the fragility of a global and integrated economy and recommends what can be done to strengthen it.
The international community has another chance to solidify the global market economy that collapsed with the outbreak of World War I. Yet, writes Gilpin, the full implications of this historic development for international affairs are not yet clear. Will socialist economies make a successful transition to market-type economies? What role will a dynamic China play in the world economy? Will the United States continue to exercise leadership or gravitate toward self-centered policies? Gilpin explores such questions along with problems in the areas of trade liberalization, multinational corporations, and destabilizing financial flows. He also investigates the struggles of less developed countries and the spread of economic regionalism, particularly in Europe, North America, and Pacific Asia, which directly threatens an open world economy.
The author maintains that global capitalism and economic globalization have rested and must continue to rest on a secure political foundation. However, this foundation has eroded since the end of the Soviet threat. To ensure survival of the global economy, Gilpin concludes, the United States and other major powers must recommit themselves to working together to rebuild its weakened political foundations.
Customer Reviews:
The Challenge of Global Capitalism: The World Economy in the 21st Century.......2006-11-05
Come in time for my college class. Arrived in excellent condition --- new book. Great price below campus book store prices.
To Free Global Capitalism or Too Free?.......2000-09-23
The main benefit of this book is to provide an overview of international economic forms of cooperation in the 20th century. That overview is, however, flawed by simplifications that often distort rather than illuminate that historical view. The argument about what must be done next is incomplete and unsatisfying. This book is written for the reader who has some college-level training in economics, and is interested in the interaction between national politics and international economics.
The basic argument is that free markets create excesses which can only be eliminated by international intervention. Such interventions were frequent and reasonably effective during the period just prior to World War I and in the free world after World War II. Professor Gilpin argues that parochial American leadership since the end of the cold war has undermined the international political system for stabilizing the international economy. He calls for stronger American leadership in forging a better coalition with the European Union countries and Japan.
The central thesis of the book is sound in one area: Unrestrained capital flows can create distortions in a world in which everything else (businesses, people, and trade flows) are not nearly so unrestrained. The problem here is that these rapid capital flows out of a country primarily occur because of years of earlier abuses (as I describe in The Irresitible Growth Enterprise) such as speculative spending on infrastructure and investments that are not needed (as happened in several Southeast Asian countries prior to their currency crises in 1998).
Virtually every problem that Professor Gilpin warns against and wants to solve with international authority is really created by poor national economic policies. We would probably create sounder world economic growth if we focused on encouraging all nations to pursue sound lending, appropriate national borrowing, and constructive trade policies (our attention is usually focused on the last). Where governments are weak or corrupt, abuses will always develop and linger. My counterargument would be that strong democracies will almost always pursue reasonably sound economic policies. Solve that problem of governmental form and effectiveness of political process at the national level, and the world economy will be sound. If this counterargument is right, then we may need a second generation of informational efforts in favor of effective democracy, in the same way that one was needed during the cold war through Radio Free Europe and Voice of America.
At another level, much of what is described here as weaknesses and problems can be attributed to weak currencies. Again, informational efforts and research could help countries with weak currencies appreciate how to strenthen those currencies. Certainly, pegging to stronger currencies is proving to be effective in many cases. Pegging to a basket of stronger currencies might work even better. There could even be a role for pegging to sound economic policies to change expectations, as some South American countries have done.
Many of the worldwide risks today relate to the U.S. trade imbalance. In the same way that greater public awareness and an economic boom led to eliminating the U.S. budget deficits, the trade imbalance can be solved. Again, this is a national issue, not an international one. The weak savings rate in the U.S. can also be solved by changing the tax laws, again at a national level.
Basically, the argument I am making is that the markets are having problems because national politics are impinging too much on free markets. In that regard, the free market of ideas that is democracy can then adjust the national politics to achieve more healthy, free market results. The U.S. should lead the way by improving the savings rate and reducing the trade deficit. That would take many of the strains off of the world economy, and create the basis for another ten years of economic boom in the United States. Can our U.S. politicians get together and work on this after the November election? I certainly hope so.
Another area where Professor Gilpin is misfocused is in his concern about the growth of trading blocs like the EU and NAFTA. Actually, these blocs are creating freer markets within them and are an unavoidable precursor to creating the same level of freedom internationally with all countries. If there were three trading blocs in the world, they would simply merge into one at some point. That would be progress.
Complexity science tells us that having many countries pursuing their own ideas of economic prosperity will work better than having an internationally coordinated system. And the more intelligent, responsive, and focused those countries are, the better the whole system will work.
After you have finished reading this book, can you think of other places where we rely on precedent too much in our thinking rather than potential? If you find any of this happening in your own thinking, how can you learn to seek out better solutions rather than simply aping past solutions?
Good start for a basic understanding.......2000-05-22
This is a higly readable and extensive survey of the major IPE issues facing Americans and the rest of the world today. It successfully analyzes and challenges the economists' arguments about the primacy of economics, or even economic theory, over politics or political science. This is an excellent book for someone just beginning to educate themselves about the nature and state of the international economy. It's significantly broad, but also does an excellent job of explaining complex phenomena. However, I have a few caveats. First, it moves too quickly and soflty over the larger issues, specifically, whether globalization has been helpful or harmful to the world polity. I agree with a previous review that it overestimates the threat of EU protectionism. In fact, he overestimates the threat of protectionism entirely. The greatest threat to, or promise against, globalization is the rise of social protest movements across the globe, being channeled in new ways not seen before. Therefore, I would urge most people to read this book, but then pick up either a contrarian book, like Grieder's One World: Ready or Not, or Globalization by Sasskia Sassen. Avoid Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree at all costs.
reasonable overview for graduate students.......2000-05-04
Prof. Gilpin has an excellent reputation in the field of IPE, International Political Economy, and I bought this book on that recommendation.
It gives a good overview of major developments in the globalization and globalization debate in the 90s, with political economy analysis and lots of references to economic analysis. I would recommend it for graduate students, but I must say i was a bit disappointed, not much new or inspirational there. I could read the book very quickly without ever really having to stop and think. Here i think it is only fair to reveal my own background, which is in international economic relations and history of EU integration. Some of his points on the nature and development of the European Union and the economics are frankly quite contestable, especially on the openness or closedness of the EU. The debate on 'Fortress Europe' is really out of date by now ever since it became clear that the Single European Act of 1987 and the '1992' project were not about closing the EU economy, quite the contrary. Do I detect an US bias here?
Yes, as prof. Gilpin points out, economists indeed disagree on many key issues. But you will find that strife also within IPE and political science and in any other social science discipline. So? It reflects the complexity of the issues rather than weakness of the discipline, i'd argue (but then, I would would I, as an economist...) A number of problems in globalization and the international financial system are presented as (relatively) new, but I'd argue that more often than not these problems were always there in history. Also, the point that regionalization threatens globalization is too strong as put there, and not necessarily correct and so clear-cut at all: many regional economic agreements were made in the course of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations at GATT/WTO out of frustration with the slow pace of negotiations and as a 'back-up' plan in case of UR failure. Hardly a threat to globalization which, in any case, throughout history never really progressed smoothly at all.
All that said, the book does do a solid job of pointing out some of the main issues and discussions and it will do well as a topical reference book.
Global Capitalism = American Corporate Imperialism.......2000-04-30
America began opening it's markets to the world in the 1970's. Since then, as the economy has grown steadily, most Americans have seen stagnant wages and the country has seen an increase in all types of inequality. The idea that the problems can be fixed presupposes a will to fix them. There is none. A palliative to this claptrap would be Chambers Johnson's book Blowback.
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Free Trade, Free World: The Advent of GATT (The Luther Hartwell Hodges Series on Business, Society, and the State)
Thomas W. Zeiler
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
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ASIN: 0807824585
Release Date: 1999-02-17 |
Book Description
In this era of globalization, it is easy to forget that today's free market values were not always predominant. But as this history of the birth of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) shows, the principles and practices underlying our current international economy once represented contested ground between U.S. policymakers, Congress, and America's closest allies. Here, Thomas Zeiler shows how the diplomatic and political considerations of the Cold War shaped American trade policy during the critical years from 1940 to 1953.
Zeiler traces the debate between proponents of free trade and advocates of protectionism, showing how and why a compromise ultimately triumphed. Placing a liberal trade policy in the service of diplomacy as a means of confronting communism, American officials forged a consensus among politicians of all stripes for freer—if not free—trade that persists to this day. Constructed from inherently contradictory impulses, the system of international trade that evolved under GATT was flexible enough to promote American economic and political interests both at home and abroad, says Zeiler, and it is just such flexibility that has allowed GATT to endure.
Customer Reviews:
The Advent of GATT.......2000-04-08
The publication of Thomas W. Zeiler's book, Free Trade Free World: The Advent of GATT is indeed timely. As recent WTO meetings in Seattle showed, there is much confusion in the minds of many people about what has happened to world trade in recent years. Zeiler's book deals with the establishment of the GATT and provides an excellent background to the early years of the free trade debate. Covering the period from 1940 to 1953, it shows that controversy and disagreement were common at the birth of the GATT and globalization much as they are today.
Zeiler, associate professor of history at the University of Colorado at Boulder, provides a well-researched and detailed history of the very difficult discussions between the United States and its allies over free trade during and immediately after the Second World War. His book is well written and interesting. It shows that not only did the American supporters of free trade have to battle their foes at home, they had to constantly struggle to convince many other leaders of democratic nations that free trade was in their best interests, as well as America's. Economic arguments about the benefits of free trade to the world community often ran up against the realities of politics as well as the economic belief that protection was better for the public good. In the United States it was hard to argue with opponents of free trade that allowing in cheaper imports such as shoes helped to improve employment when workers in shoe factories lost their jobs.
Negotiations between the United States, Great Britain, and the British Commonwealth about the relaxation of protectionist measures began during World war 2. Britian and her former colonies devoted considerable time and energy to trade issues even when the British were involved in a life and death stuggle with Nazi Germany. Idealists were looking to the future when peace and an open world economy might prevail. Protection, of course, continued after the war. Much of the blame for the failure of the free trade negotiations at this time can be laid on the British and their Commonwealth. Facing considerable economic hardship as a result of the war, British politicians believed that protectionist policies would help their economy recover and allow them to regain some of their former world dominance.
In the United States, during the period covered by this book, presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower were all in favour of free trade but with different degrees of conviction. Their strongest opposition came from Republican members of Congress. Roosevelt supported free trade because he believed it helped his New Deal but was never a free trade idealist. He had, of course, seen protectionist policies cause world trade to decline by 60% in the early years of the Great Depression. Truman was much more convinced of free trade's merits, having believed in its value since his high school days, but also "backed protectionism when needed." Eisenhower, who became President near the end of this history, had a much broader world perspective than his predecessors. He supported free trade unequivocally, believing it would strengthen the non-communist world in the global struggle to win the hearts and minds of Third World leaders.
Considerable international opposition to free trade came from Britain and her Commonwealth. In 1932, as a result of the "Ottawa Agreement", Britain had established a trade system that discriminated against non-Commonwealth members. Naturally, Commonwealth leaders wanted this to continue and opposed any move towards free trade. In Britain, opposition to free trade crossed party lines as it did in the United States. Churchill, the Conservative Party leader, who had seen his country's power dissolve during the war, believed "that Britain's postwar salvation lay in regulated, not free trade". Clement Attlee, the socialist, Labour Party leader, who became Prime Minister immediately after the Second World War in 1945, believed in protection and regulated trade as a matter of principle.
Meetings to establish free trade took place between 1946 and 1948 in London, Geneva, and Havana. At Geneva, from April to October 1947, a draft charter for an International Trade Organization (ITO) was created. This was approved in Havana in November by fifty-three nations, most of the trading world with the exception of the Soviet Union. However, these nations were not truly committed to free trade and the ITO died. Replacing it was the less comprehensive General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was signed by twenty-three nations on October 30th, 1947. The realities of Cold War politics destroyed the idealism that had surfaced during the war. American business interests and politicians who had strongly supported free trade throughout this period as a means of improving employment and prosperity had to be contented with a compromise that blended free trade with protectionism.
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