Complexity and Public Policy: A New Approach to 21st Century Politics, Policy and Society – By Robert Geyer and Samir Rihani

The Truth about Trade is a blistering critique of the prevailing neo-liberal narrative regarding the benefits of trade liberalisation, written from the perspective of an economist involved in preparing sustainability impact assessments (SIAs) of the EU’s trade policy. The book opens with an introductory section which outlines (in rather basic terms) the major debates surrounding the issue of trade liberalisation before overviewing the EU’s SIA process. It also sets out the author’s aim: to assess the impact of trade liberalisation for sustainable development. The empirical ‘meat’ is found in the middle section, which focuses on the potential impact of the current Doha Round of multilateral trade talks, with chapters dedicated, respectively, to non-agricultural market access, agricultural trade, services, trade-related intellectual property rights, the so-called ‘Singapore Issues’ and WTO rules.This is followed by a concluding section in which the author outlines the small impact the SIAs have actually had on EU trade policy and the role of ‘Aid for Trade’ and other ‘flanking’ trade policies. Before concluding, Clive George also proposes a series of reforms to the system of global trade governance in the context of a post-crisis world. The book profiles itself as being based on a ten-year programme of SIAs of EU trade policy and thus grounded in an evaluation of the economic costs and benefits of market opening. It does tell a very interesting and well-documented story of the overstated benefits of merchandise and agricultural trade liberalisation (especially for developing countries), but the (ostensible) scarcity of quantifiable data (on which the SIAs largely rely) in other issue areas of the Doha Round means that the case against full-scale liberalisation is not as convincingly presented in other chapters. Moreover, the author’s argument is generally sketched out in rather broad strokes so that a trade policy scholar will probably not come across anything new in George’s critique of the neo-liberal trade paradigm while finding several of his more assertive claims to be undersupported. Much the same can be said of his proposals for reforming the international trade system. Nevertheless, the author’s approach also betrays an aspiration to engage a broader audience. This is to be heartily welcomed as the book can contribute towards sparking a more productive (and inclusive) discussion about trade liberalisation – usually the domain of technical specialists – which moves us beyond the pervasive, blind faith in the mantra of free trade.