This study analyzes the evolution of the regime
governing private international trade law from its inception
in the eleventh century through to its modern formulation in
the twentieth century. It also seeks to explain its
development by focusing on three theories of international
relations.
The regime is defined in terms of its substantive and
procedural dimensions. The nature and strength of the norms
governing the substantive dimension (prices, liability for
defective goods, allocation of transport costs, insurance,
and financial and credit arrangements) and the procedural
dimension (locus of regulation, methodology of rule
creation, and dispute settlement) are analyzed over three
historical phases. These three periods are the medieval
period, from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries, the
early modern period, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth
centuries, and the modern period in the twentieth century.
The regime norms are found to exhibit significant continuity
over time, although there has been considerable variation in
the rules. The strength of the regime has also varied over
the three phases.
Three theoretical perspectives (structural realism,
functionalism, and sociological analysis) are evaluated for
their relative ability to explain the origin, evolution,
nature, and strength of the regime. Each perspective is
found to offer important insights, but a synthesis of
approaches is necessary to capture the complexity and
richness of the regime's evolution. Structural realism does
not account for the origin of the regime and is of limited
assistance in explaining the strength of voluntary
standards. It does, however, explain the influence that
states' concerns for political/legal autonomy have had on
the regime and offers a reasonably good account of the roles
that the United States and the United Kingdom have played in
the evolution of the regime. Sociological analysis assists
in accounting for the origin and nature of the regime, but
it does not provide a comprehensive theory of cooperation.
Reference to the other approaches is required as a
supplement to sociological analysis. Functionalism provides
the best explanation of the origin and nature of the regime.
However, it is unable to account for variations in the
strength of the regime over the three historical periods.
Reference to the influence of changing structures of
political authority and to the ideas, knowledge, and values
of the major commercial actors is necessary as a supplement
to functional analysis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/2887 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Cutler, Athena Claire |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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