Global Rivalries

Standards Wars and the Transnational Cotton Trade

Quark Amy A.

As the economies of China, India, and other Asian nations continue to grow, these countries are seeking greater control over the rules that govern international trade. Setting the rules carries with it the power to establish advantage, so it's no surprise that everyone wants a seat at the table – or that negotiations over rules often result in stalemates at meeting of the World Trade Organization.

Nowhere is the conflict over rule setting more evident than in the simmering "standards wars" over the rules that define quality and enable the adjudication of disputes. In "Global Rivalries", Amy A. Quark explores the questions of how rules are made, who makes them, and how they are enforced, using the lens of cotton – a simple commodity that has become a poignant symbol of both the crisis of Western rule making power and the potential for powerful new rivals to supplant it. Quark traces the strategies for influencing rule making processes employed not only by national governments but also by transnational corporations, fiber scientists, and trade associations from around the globe. Quark analyzes the efficacy of their approaches and the implications for more marginal actors in the cotton trade, including producers in West Africa.

By placing the current contest within the historical development of the global capitalist system, "Global Rivalries" highlights a fascinating interaction of politics and economics.

About the Author

Amy A. Quark is assistant professor of sociology at the College of William and Mary.

Reviews

"With 'Global Rivalries', Amy A. Quark offers a fascinating account of the evolution of standards setting in the international cotton trade, bringing this seemingly technocratic but intensely political process to life without sacrificing careful and erudite scholarship. More importantly, she shows convincingly that these issues matter greatly in an increasingly global marketplace" – Susan K. Sell, George Washington University

"A transition from one hegemonic power to another today is less likely to be an outcome of a geopolitical shock and more likely to come through the renegotiation of existing rules. With 'Global Rivalries', Amy A. Quark portrays more clearly and effectively than any other analysis I've read so far how the interplay between the newcomers, who try to introduce new institutions but are dependent on the institutions already in place, and the old-timers, who try to protect the existing institutions but must pacify the challengers, leads to new global institutions that are inevitably hybrid" – Nitsan Chorev, Brown University

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