TY  - JOUR
N2  - What political factors explain the selection of countries for preferential trade agreements by the European Union? I argue that when forming a trade agreement the EU is more likely to target countries that have a higher degree of political and economic transparency than other developing countries. In highly transparent countries the EU is able to monitor effectively whether or not these countries follow its forms of conditionality, which is the main rationale of EU regionalism. Moreover, economic and political transparency plays a particularly important role in determining the degree of flexibility in trade agreements. Evidence based on data from 138 developing countries supports these arguments.
SN  - 1465-1165
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1465116509359431 
KW  - EU foreign relationship
KW  -  preferential trade agreement
KW  -  transparency
KW  -  flexibility
KW  -  selection
model
AV  - public
TI  - Explaining Formation and Design of EU Trade Agreements: The Role of Transparency and Flexibility
EP  - 217
N1  - The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in European Union Politics, 11 (2), June 2010 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved.
ID  - eprints37
SP  - 195
PB  - SAGE Publications
A1  - Baccini, Leonardo
IS  - 2
JF  - European Union Politics
Y1  - 2010/06//
VL  - 11
ER  -