| With the emergence of a digital economy where goods and services can be traded freely over open, public network platforms such as the Internet, the international trade policy community has been confronted with an important challenge: how to reconcile existing trade rules with the rapid growth in electronic commerce. Central to this development is the question of whether electronically deliverable products should be classified as goods or services under rules created under the World Trade Organization.; This thesis aims to explore Canada's approach to this policy problem with a consideration of two subsidiary questions: (1) how may an examination of ideas shed light on preferences; and (2) what is the role of structure in explaining how preferences affect policy outcomes? It therefore places emphasis on the concept of ideas, viewing ideas as intermediaries between structural conditions and actors' interests. |
