Interdisciplinary approach to the theoretical modeling of protectionist intentions in international economic cooperation

Abstract

Annotation. The interdisciplinary multi-criteria approach to defining protectionism from the perspective of ideology, idea, policy and practice is proposed, which allowed for investigating the transformation of its manifestation forms in the process of evolutionary development of the international economic relations. The international economic policy was studied as an unbroken continuum of the economic and political practice of the states by methodological tools of the international political economy. It is found that from the international political economy perspective a choice between protectionism and free trade as the principles for implementation of the economic policy of the state is conditional on the pattern of global economic processes with their immanent contradictions, the specifics of regionalization and integration processes, and the global economy tendencies. The choice between the government’s commitment to the policy of minimizing costs and maximizing benefits, and the character of its participation in the international economic cooperation is determined by the pattern of international trade and international movement of production factors, on the one hand, and determine it, on the other hand. It is demonstrated that the choice of protectionist policy, as follows from the international political economy discourse, is conditional on: operation of public and non-public economic entities; effects from the implementation of national economic policies; the coordinating equilibrium between national, regional, interstate and global level of decision making; the existing mechanisms for global control of international economic interests.    Keywords: international economic cooperation, international trade, protectionism, free trade, trade agreement.