Topic of the thesis: The politicization of EU trade policy: causes and consequences.

Abstract: Over the last 20 years, the nature of global trade has changed in terms of both content and process, experiencing some major structural changes, notably: the progressive “servicification” of manufacturing, the globalization of firms’ value and production chains, and the digitalization of economy. The EU trade policy has evolved to reflect these changes, revolving less and less around exchanging tariff preferences and increasingly on writing rules for investment, services and goods. Accordingly, in order to address regulatory differences that obstruct international trade, the Commission embarked on the negotiation of “deep and comprehensive” preferential trade agreements (PTAs). Unlike the old generation of agreements, this new-generation of PTAs sees the active participation of non-traditional trade actors such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and citizen groups. As a result, the EU trade policy has become increasingly politicized and contested. Yet, the politicization of PTAs in is not constant but seems to differ considerably, both over time and across contemporaneous negotiations.  Against this background, the research investigates causes and consequences of EU trade policy politicization process. In particular, the fundamental question this work tackles is: why trade policy is much more contested in some cases than in others? Whereas existing literature has mostly focused their attention on few highly contested trade agreements - notably CETA and TTIP – to date there is no systemic research investigating the varying degrees of politicization of EU PTAs. To address this gap in the literature, this proposal carries on a systemic and deep analysis across multiple trade negotiations, investigating not only the conditions that actually give rise to politicized trade negotiations but also the conditions under which such dynamics do not occur.

Research interests: International Relations – International Political Economy – EU Studies – EU Foreign Policy – Trade Policy.

Graduated from: University of Turin (BA and MA) – European College of Parma (Postgraduate MA).

Degrees obtained: BA in International Development Studies – MA in International Studies – East Asia Studies – Postgraduate MA in European Studies.

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