Political Contestation about International Economic Agreements: Lessons for the Canada-UK Trade Relationship after Brexit

近年来，一些国际经济协定，如加拿大与欧盟签订的《全面经济贸易协定》（CETA），引起了相当大的公众争议，而另一些则在很大程度上逃脱了公众的审查。随着加拿大和英国准备就脱欧后的经济关系进行谈判，了解双边经济和贸易协定在哪些条件下会产生政治争议是很重要的。政策制定者还必须考虑，在设计贸易政策过程时，如何预测公众对此类协定的争议，从而将政治争论转化为有影响力的公共辩论。这个知识综合项目评估了这些问题的研究知识状况。它解决了以下问题：为什么一些国际协议在政治上有争议，而另一些却几乎没有出现在公开辩论中？在协议成为政治争议的情况下，哪些观点主导了辩论？在潜在的加拿大-英国协议中，公众争论的热点可能是什么？在将与贸易有关的政治争议引入制定国际经济政策的过程中，已经制定了哪些最佳做法，特别是通过提高谈判的透明度，从早期阶段就纳入不同的利益相关者和观点，并将谈判结果告知更广泛的公众？对这些问题提出的研究知识的综合将确定这一新兴学术探究领域的研究优势和差距；它还将帮助政策制定者就即将到来的加拿大-英国贸易谈判的治理做出关键决定，目的是促进包容和基于证据的公众辩论。

In recent years, some international economic agreements - such as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) concluded between Canada and the European Union (EU) - have generated considerable public controversy, while others have largely escaped public scrutiny. As Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) prepare to negotiate their post-Brexit economic relationship, it is important to understand under which conditions bilateral economic and trade agreements become politically contentious. Policy makers will also have to consider how public controversies about such agreements can be anticipated in designing the trade policy process, so that political contestation is channelled into impactful public debates. This knowledge synthesis project assesses the state of research knowledge on these issues. It addresses the following questions: Why do some international agreements become politically contentious, while others hardly register in public debates? Which arguments dominate debates in those instances in which agreements become politically contentious? What could be flashpoints of public contestation in a potential Canada-UK agreement? What best practices have been developed to channel trade-related political controversies into the process of making international economic policy, inter alia by increasing the transparency of negotiations, incorporating diverse stakeholders and viewpoints from an early stage, and informing the broader public about negotiation results? The proposed synthesis of research knowledge on these questions will identify researchstrengths and gaps in this emergent field of scholarly inquiry; it will also aid policy makers in making crucial decisions on the governance of the upcoming Canada-UK trade negotiations, with the objective of facilitating an inclusive and evidence-based public debate.