Realism and postwar US trade policy

Abstract

This paper examines the credentials of the realist approach to international political economy as explanatory theory of postwar US trade policy. It argues that the realist link between international structure, US national trade interest and policy outcome is not strong. Empirical anomalies are identified in terms of both the general openness of US policy and the sectoral pattern of protection. The realist approach to explaining US trade policy suffers from the twin problems of a high level of policy indeterminacy and the theoretical neglect of state–society relations crucial to domestic trade preference formation. Show more