Geographies of Free Trade

Question 1

How is free trade related to the Empire?

Answer 1

• ‘Free trade’ rooted in the Empire and East India Co.
• Project of Empire, relying on violence for control of land, resources and backed by imperialistic ideologies of race and ‘civilising’ missions

Question 2

What is the role of the WTO and how many members are involved?

Answer 2

• 160 members; China joined in December 2001
• Provide for forum for discussion and determination of rules for international trade
• Countries are legally obliged to operate within treaties determined by WTO

Question 3

What are the criticisms of the WTO?

Answer 3

1. Inequitable Trade
   
   • Anglo-European centric due to economic size and power
2. Environment
   
   • US and Europe biggest producers of environmental damage
   • Compounded by US not joining Kyoto and Trump pulling of Paris Climate Change agreement
3. Dispossesses workers and poor
   
   • Private property particularly attached to free trade
   • Most of worlds’ workers od not own good necessary to live
4. Race to the bottom

Question 4

How can fair trade be characterised?

Answer 4

• Resisting dominant modes of supply chain organisation
• Spaces of hope
• Economy should not be reduced to capitalism
• Trade re-embedded in social relations

Question 5

What are the aims of fair trade?

Answer 5

• Greater social justice in commodity chain
• Attempts to deal with gender inequities
• Reinvestment in community development

Question 6

What are the criticisms of fair trade?

Answer 6

• Link to fetishism
• Creates dependency
• Northern-based ethical agendas/role of retailers
  
  • Identify and reflect critical ethical values of South, particularly marginalised people that ethical trade is intended to aid (Blowfield, 1999)
  • Place-based ethical and political contexts for alternative trade schemes to retain their ‘ethical force’ (Popke, 2006)

Question 7

What is the difference between fair trade and ethical trade?

Answer 7

• Ethical trade refers to sourcing project that concentrations on conditions of labour within the place of work
• Unlike fair trade there is no explicit challenge to unjust power relations in trade between rich and poor countries

Bek et al. (2007)

Question 8

What are the implications of mainstreaming fair trade?

Answer 8

• Mainstreaming means that fair trade is likely to be appropriated
• Losing radical edge through becoming involved with mainstream

Davenport and Low (2005)

Question 9

What are the characteristics of alternative trade organization?

Answer 9

• Resisting dominant modes of supply chain organisation
• Organic supply chains
• Farmers’ markets
• Local currency systems

Question 10

What is the difference between alternative trade and fair trade?

Answer 10

• Alternative trade means an alternative to the dominant hegemonic system
  
  • Avoiding commercial mainstream routes
  • Cutting out middle men who took sizeable shares of the profit
• Fair trade is about getting a fair price
  
  • Highly subjective
  • Means that producer gets a base price

Davenport and Low (2005)

Question 11

What are the benefits to mainstreaming fair trade?

Answer 11

• Gets more money flowing
• Message becomes more wide spread
• Helps the fair trade brand grow

Davenport and Low (2005)