POSC 397 ---- Fall 2004
The POLITICS of INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Dr. Chris Blake
Maury 207 – 568-6344 – BLAKECH@JMU.EDU
OFFICE HOURS: M 3:30-5, Tu 3-5, W 3:30-5 and by appointment

BLACKBOARD WEBSITE: Click HERE to go to Blackboard for POSC 397

Over the past decade, 34 nation-states in the Western Hemisphere have begun to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).  These countries are striving to negotiate an agreement by 2005 that would eventually eliminate all tariff barriers among the member states.  In addition to many non-tariff market access issues, they are also negotiating standards regarding investment, intellectual property, services, government procurement, competition policy, and antidumping measures.  The countries are also debating dispute settlement procedures for the enforcement of the FTAA.

In this simulation, students working in pairs will represent the interests of many of the 34 participants.  Eleven countries will be represented directly.  Those eleven countries will be chosen from among the following 13 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The remaining countries negotiate as a bloc within the simulation: the 13 participating members of the Caribbean Community plus the Dominican Republic and Haiti will negotiate as a single unit.  The five members of the Central American Common Market plus Panama will also negotiate as a single unit.  Both of these larger groups will be represented by the instructor.

Each student group will be responsible for coming to the simulation with specific proposals re: issues 1-2 (see other side of this sheet) which both group members are prepared to defend -- recognizing all along that they are role-playing representatives of their assigned countries.  In other words, students must be prepared to defend their proposals not only against criticisms from other countries, but also against criticisms from the very people and interests they represent.  As moderator, I will feel free to role-play “the absent constituents” as circumstances demand.

We will follow a strict format to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate:

 Sunday 11/14/04: 
Ø       All groups must post their complete proposals on Blackboard by 11pm.

For RTF templates suitable for posting, click for the trade proposal and the dispute settlement proposal.  The trade data spreadsheet is available in the Course Documents section of the Blackboard course site.

 Monday 11/15/04: 
Ø       Open negotiations among all participants to speed up and/or maximize tariff reductions.
Ø       All groups must post revisions to their trade proposals on Blackboard by 11pm or post a message confirming the prior proposal.

 Wednesday 11/17/04: 
Ø       Open negotiations among all participants to establish dispute settlement procedures.
Ø       All groups must post any revisions to their dispute settlement proposals on Blackboard by 11pm or post a message confirming the prior proposal. The 11pm deadline also holds for posting proposals for additional provisions to the draft agreement.

 Friday 11/19/04: 
Ø       5 minutes: Vote among existing dispute settlement proposals (1 vote per negotiating team).
Ø       15 minutes: Negotiations in pursuit of 11 (or more) votes in favor of a dispute settlement procedure.
Ø       5 minutes: A final vote among existing dispute settlement proposals.
Ø       25 minutes: Negotiations among all participants to speed up and/or maximize tariff reductions.
NOTE: Additional provisions to the draft agreement can be voted on in Friday's session at the joint request of at least 8 negotiating teams.  Any such additional provisions must have been formally posted by one of the states by no later than the 11/17/04 posting deadline of 11pm.
Ø       All groups must post on Blackboard their position on each other country’s trade proposals by 6pm on Friday 11/19/04 to request modifications in the trade proposal or to confirm that the existing proposal is acceptable.

Sunday 11/21/04: 
Ø       All groups must post any revisions to their trade proposals on Blackboard by 6pm or post a message confirming the prior proposal.

Monday 11/22/04: 
Ø       Each country has 2 minutes to announce and justify its decision regarding the existing draft agreement.
        o        If it accepts it as is, why?
        o        If it rejects it as is, why?
Ø       Each country will face 1 minute of questioning from the national media regarding its position.

Because time is short, each person must be familiar with the issues at stake and with his or her group’s position in order to make the simulation work.  I do not expect any of you to do enough thinking and reading to write a term paper off the top of your head.  But, I do expect everyone to think and read enough to talk thoughtfully about the issues at hand from the perspective of the country(ies) you represent.

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This page was last updated on: 05/20/05.
If you have comments or suggestions about this site, please send an e-mail to Chris Blake at blakech@jmu.edu.