Analysis Of The Reasons Of The Post-cold War The United States Export Administration Act Of The Legislative Deadlock

Since the expiration of the Export Administration Act of 1979 in 1990, the U.S. Congress hasn't approved a new version up to now. On the basis of former analyses that emphasized the domestic divergence as the main reason, this article gives a further study and draws a new conclusion.First, three traits of the post-Cold War American export controls are introduced as the trade-security dilemma, the relaxed international situation and the different domestic opinions.Then, with the tree traits as premises, I build two models of vote-cycling according to public choice theories and verify them with historical facts. I find that when the international circumstances are stringent, the majority of different opinions would reach a stable decision. While the outside environment becomes relaxed, divergence would result in the ceaseless transformations of coalitions and the failure to make a law.The final conclusion of the article, therefore, is that under the conditions of trade-security dilemma, the international relaxed environment and the domestic divergence function together so that though all sides in the U.S. are willing to rewrite a new Export Administration Act, the very result is just a long-term reauthorization deadlock.