Globalization, business interests, and the development of continental free trade agreements

The thesis is a comparative study on the role played by “big business” peak interest associations in the development of continental trading regimes in North America and Western Europe (specifically the FTA, NAFTA and the Single European Act (SEA)). The paper explains the role and level of influence of business groups by examining changes that have been occurring in the international political economy over time which have increased the influencing power of business and weakened the ability of states and civil society groups (and labour) to act in certain policy areas. The increased “influencing power” of business caused by globalization and reflected in the agency and structural power of capital, allowed business groups in Canada, the United Kingdom, and at the European level, to play an active and important role in the agenda-setting, negotiation and implementation phases of these agreements.