Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 38 No. 1, 2018.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21464/fi38111
Role and Meaning of International Trade Agreements in Understanding Space, Illustrated on the Example of NAFTA Trade Agreement
Ivica Kelam
orcid.org/0000-0001-9087-0314
; Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Fakultet za odgojne i obrazovne znanosti, Ulica cara Hadrijana 10, HR–31000 Osijek
Abstract
International trade agreements exist from the very beginnings of modern civilization. Societies had been developing mutual contacts and connections mostly for the purpose of trade and the exchange of goods. At the end of the 20th and the beginning of 21st century, modern multilateral trade agreements entered the scene, drastically changing the very concept of trade agreements. Contracts such as NAFTA, TTIP, CETA, TISA, and TPP barely touch upon trade issues, instead they mostly deal with redefining the space and relationships they encompass. In this paper, we will put an emphasis on the changed reality of space in trade agreements, for example the NAFTA agreement, which was signed in 1994 with the aim of establishing economic connection between Mexico, the US and Canada, into a single zone of free movement of goods, services, and capital, but not people. After 23 years, NAFTA became an example of a trade agreement with which everyone is dissatisfied, since it mostly negatively affected the lives of a large part of the population of Mexico and the United States, through a dramatic impoverishment of Mexican peasants and a drastic increase of illegal migrants coming from Mexico to the United States. At the same time, international corporations benefited most from NAFTA, and by using ISDS mechanism they gained the opportunity to sue States and seek compensation for the lost profits. In this way, corporations entered the space of sovereignty, which until now was reserved solely for sovereign states, and they dramatically changed their positions of power.
Keywords
international trade agreements; space; corporations; NAFTA; market; immigrants
Hrčak ID:
204795
URI
Publication date:
2.4.2018.
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