This paper is about the WTO and the multilateral trading system crisis. It puts forward the main characteristics of the WTO trade regime, which shows that the collective and structural preferences of the member States are the main issues of multilateral trade negotiations. The Development Agenda consolidates this reality. This paper refutes the thesis that attributes the failure of the WTO to the number of States. It formulates the proposition that a change in the nature of multilateralism (...)  lire suite

Scarcity, be it absolute or relative, economic or social, or even the expression of a power, lies at the origin of human conflict. In the international system, security is a scarce possession that requires a costly investment : indeed, in order to protect itself, a State must invest in military effort, which can be both a source of economic development and an unproductive form of development. Scarcity is created by capitalism, a factor of « permanent war at worst, armed peace at best », and (...)  lire suite

The Seventies were characterized by the locking of accumulation, high inflation and debt. The monetary policies implemented in industrial countries were associated to the enforcement of an austerity treatment in developing countries. These restrictive measures, linked to the liberalization and the opening of national markets to international flows of goods and capital, were grouped together and synthesized in the « Washington Consensus ». Its implementation in many South countries (beginning (...)  lire suite

The consequences of the recent war in Iraq on the petrol market reflect both the United States’ concern to re-establish political stability in a country that is an important petrol reserve for their future furnishing and the expression of rivalry between Russia and the United States for the control of that region. Iraq is a chief piece of the Western “petrol water castle”. It is also a key argument of the confrontation between Russia and the United States for the control and the (...)  lire suite

Occasionally, the scientific discussion about globalization underlines the risk of a « race to the bottom » in the most industrialized countries. Our paper aims at clarifying this discussion by basing its analysis on the globalization strategies of companies. Three lessons can be drawn from our analysis. Companies have an a priori choice between three models of globalization (commercial, multinational, purely global). The present form in our world economy clearly favours the purely global (...)  lire suite

Detested or adulated, Paul Krugman’s work leaves no-one indifferent. For over two decades, the atypical Princeton professor cannot be ignored in either economic analysis or in domestic policy. The pioneer of the « New international trade », that emphasized strategic trade issues, he has changed his mind to become a strong defender of the superiority of free-trade. After his distinguished academic work, Paul Krugman decided to take on a series of pop theories, a series of false popular (...)  lire suite

Organised crime ensues from a financial, but also productive, logic. Still, the latter is often underestimated. Currency plays an essential role in the relations between legal economy and illegal economy. Theoretical reflection allows to compare money laundering to two other mafia practices, directly linked with money : usury and racketeering, and to consider them as complementary. Therefore, maximisation of money’s purchasing power represents a central stake for the mafia. The systematic (...)  lire suite

This essay presents the main conclusions of a study on the Common European Economic Space led by the Russian-European centre for the Economic Policy (RECEP) set up by the European Union in 1995. The RECEP White Book aims at showing that the CEES can represent an important lever of sustainable development for Russia, if it is not only conceived as a simple free trade area. Statistical studies show the advantages in terms of trade flows increase and of welfare increase which Russia should (...)  lire suite

Beside the classic example of the lighthouse, economists present military expenditures as the epitome of the useful domestic collective good. Nevertheless, overall world military spending may also be presented as an undesirable international public good, contrary to international security and global peace, which are directly useful for all nations. However, the latter examples are subjected to constraints which influence or are influenced by the institutions which make the decisions about (...)  lire suite

The aim of this article is to present the World Trade Organization within the perspective of the political economy of trade. The article highlights the transformation in trade regulation caused by the Uruguay Round negotiations and agreements. Today, this trade regulation concerns both beyond-the-border and regulatory measures that affect the functioning and the organization of domestic markets. From the analysis of the nature of the WTO, which is simultaneously : an international economic (...)  lire suite