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US AGRICULTURE: LIBERALISM AND PROTECTIONISM

PARADOXES OF A HEGEMON

LIZA CHONG

PROJECT PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR


THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF ARTS IN STRATEGY AND
DIPLOMACY

Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities


University Kebangsaan Malaysia
Bangi
2002/03
Declaration

I hereby declare that the work of this project paper is my own except
for quotations and summaries which have been duly acknowledged.

21 April 2003

Liza Chong
Abstract

This paper explores US hegemony and the US-made world order. It seeks to
address the question of why the US - as the standard bearer of economic
liberalism - undermines the international institutions-based trading regime that it
has carefully established since WWII (namely the WTO). The US undermines its
position as the voice of free trade by retreating into protectionism. In particular,
the impact of US protection of its agricultural sector will be examined where
agriculture plays an important role in world politics due to the implications of
food on national sovereignty and security. More importantly, US agricultural
protection negatively impacts the economies of developing countries that are
mostly agriculture-based. This then perpetuates the rich-poor divide between
developed and developing countries and creates great resentment towards US
hegemony and thus its ability to lead the world as it would like. International
factors, but more significantly, domestic political factors are the enduring reasons
for US protectionism of its agricultural sector. While US hegemony enables it to
afford protectionism, the US undermines its credibility as a leader of free trade
and undercuts its ability to lead the WTO by doing so. With the focus on the
WTO, this paper will attempt to determine how stable the world order would be
under an aggressively unilateral US, versus conditions under which the US
continues to utilise the international institutions-based framework that has served
it so well in the post-WWII era.
Contents

Page Number

Declaration i

Abstract ii

Abbreviations iii

Chapter One: Introduction 1

1.1 Setting the Scene 1


1.2 Hypothesis 10
1.3 Methodology 10
1.4 Chapterisation 11

Chapter Two: The United States and the Liberal World Order 13

2.1 Liberalism and Protectionism: The US Track Record 15


2.2 Greater Interdependence - A Cause for Peace or Conflict? 20

Chapter Three: The Agricultural Sector in World Politics 27

3.1 Agriculture and the WTO 27


3.2 Why is Agriculture Important to States? 29
3.3 Why is Agriculture Important to World Politics? 30
Page Number

Chapter Four: US Agriculture - Protectionism 38

4.1 International Politics 39


4.2 Domestic Politics 41

Chapter Five: Conclusion 50

Bibliography 57

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