ORCID

Abstract

Regional integration institutions play an important but ambiguous role in the liberal international system, especially when it comes to trade policy. The Covid-19 pandemic generated a trade crisis, which gave them an opportunity to expand their role in a liberal or illiberal direction. An analysis of the framing and policy measures of five key regional institutions in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia will demonstrate whether they were geared towards liberalisation and/or interventionism in early 2020. The European Union stood out for its strong collective action on trade, working out a new balance between interventionism and liberalism. Other institutions hinted at interventionism but did not take collective action. The trade response was overwhelmingly state-driven, and regional institutions outside Europe clearly have limited agency in the global trade system. While their behaviour is difficult to qualify ideologically, their framing supported liberal principles of international relations.

Publication Date

2023-07-28

Publication Title

The International Spectator

Volume

58

Issue

4

ISSN

0393-2729

Acceptance Date

2023-06-15

Deposit Date

2023-10-18

Embargo Period

2023-10-31

Funding

The author would like to acknowledge the very helpful feedback of the journal’s editors and two anonymous reviewers. Thanks are also due to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business at the University of Plymouth for funding the initial research, and to Michele Fox for her great work as a research assistant.

Keywords

regional integration, trade, liberalism, political economy, pandemic

First Page

128

Last Page

148

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