Why do governments choose multilateralism? We examine a principalagent model in which states trade some control over the policy for greater burden sharing. The theory generates observable hypotheses regarding the reasons for and the patterns of support and opposition to multilateralism. To focus our study, we analyze support for bilateral and multilateral foreign aid giving in the US. Using new...

The beleaguered progress of the Doha Development Agenda of the WTO presents something of a puzzle for economic theory: if multilateralism is an effective forum for liberalisation (as it has been in the past), then why have the current round of talks faltered amid the proliferation of preferential trade negotiations? Several authors have argued that the consensus decision-making and single-under...

1806 www.thelancet.com Vol 385 May 9, 2015 bleak. The papers we publish this week aim to show why withdrawing from multilateralism would be the wrong response to Ebola. It is perfectly understandable why many nations view threats to their citizens and sovereignty as reasons to act alone, on the basis of a narrow concept of strengthened state security. But human beings have many affi liations an...

The well-known question whether regional trade agreements (RTAs) and the multilateral trading system (MTS) are “strangers, friends, or foes” (Bhagwati and Panagariya, 1996) has gained new importance with the widespread proliferation of RTAs in recent years. Based on an extensive data set which covers most of world trade over the past 60 years and about 240 regional trade agreements, we analyze ...

The well-known question whether regional trade agreements (RTAs) and the multilateral trading system (MTS) are “strangers, friends, or foes” (Bhagwati and Panagariya, 1996) has gained new importance with the widespread proliferation of RTAs in recent years. Based on an extensive data set which covers most of world trade over the past 60 years and about 240 regional trade agreements, we analyze ...

Abstract In this paper we will consider the existing notions of bilateralism in context proof-theoretic semantics and propose, based on our understanding bilateralism, an extension to logical multilateralism. This approach differs from what has been proposed under name before that do not multiple speech acts as core such a theory but rather consequence relations. We argue for aim most beneficia...

This paper reviews the theoretical and the empirical literature on regionalism. The formation of regional trade agreements has been, by far, the most popular form of reciprocal trade liberalization in the last fifteen years. The discriminatory character of these agreements has raised three main concerns: that trade diversion would be rampant, because special interest groups would induce governm...

1687 Do the forces that regional integration arrangements set up encourage or discourage a trend toward globally freer trade? We don't know yet. Summary findings The literature on regionalism versus multilateralism is growing as economists and political scientists grapple with the question of whether regional integration arrangements are good or bad for the multilateral system. Are regional int...