Call for Papers on topics related to the Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) | Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

Berlin Forum on Global Politics (BFoGP)
in Cooperation with
Internet & Society Co:llaboratory
&
FutureChallenges.org (Bertelsmann Stiftung)


1. What is it about?

The Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA), also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) currently being negotiated by the United States of America and the European Union.

FTAs are established in order to create trade blocs for the member countries that sign the treaties. A trade bloc allows to reduce or to eliminate regional barriers to trade: tariffs (e.g., taxes and/or lists of prices) and non-tariff barriers (e.g., anti-dumping measures and/or anti-subsidy duties), import quotas, and preferences on traded goods and services.

TAFTA | TTIP has the potential to be the largest FTA ever signed: it would cover more than 40% of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) and is stated to not only create vast amounts of employment, but also to lead to monumental annual gains for the United States and the European Union.

The question, then, is why there is such a lack of transparency in what concerns the negotiations themselves and such little debate about the effects/externalities of the treaty? The documents leaked from the first round of negotiations, which occurred in Washington, D.C., earlier in July 2013, seem to indicate that copyright, intellectual properties and Internet provisions and regulations are quite similar in nature to those contained within the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), halted in 2012 by public outcry. These similarities with ACTA can be some of the reasons for the secrecy of TAFTA | TTIP negotiations. Other reasons could be the strengthening of corporations’ rights to sue member countries over trade disputes, as well as the fact that the negotiations could include anything from wage levels to environmental conditions to public health standards.

2. What are we aiming for?

We welcome short articles from individuals, groups or organizations that are interested in the potential impact of TAFTA | TTIP. Our objective is to collect high-quality articles for a compilatory publication, to be revised by experienced scholars, which will be published as a free-to-the- public .pdf formatted document and licensed as a CC-BY (Attribution only) Creative Commons. Due to the fact that we want to inform a multiplicity of stakeholders via the internet in order to foster critical debate within the general public in regard to TAFTA | TTIP, the short articles *need not* be written as academic papers, filled with technical terminology, but in a clear and understandable language that can reach everybody interested - a fact that should not compromise their quality.

The potential impact of TAFTA | TTIP on the transatlantic and global community could involve areas as critical and diverse as:

... the global (political) economy & the free trade system
... public participation & the Internet
... surveillance & security
... human rights, (sustainable) development & the ecology
... globalization & the nation state
... international business & global production networks
... the transatlantic alliance & the ‘rise of the rest’
... international law & the legal system
... media & culture
... perceptions & narratives
... Internet governance & regulation
... intellectual property & patents systems
... consumer rights & environmental/food regulation
... data sovereignty & privacy
... transparency & the negotiation process
... politico-economic winners and losers

Deadlines

August 18, 2013 -- Submission of abstracts (max. 200 words) [with full name, affiliation (if applicable) & email address]

August 21, 2013 -- Notification to authors of accepted abstracts

September 25, 2013 -- Submission of complete papers (max. 2,000 words) [format: Arial, 12 pt font size, single-spaced, quotations in Harvard-style]

3. Who are we?

The ‘Berlin Forum on Global Politics’ is a non-profit group, constituted by international scholars, interested in promoting academic and public understanding of contemporary global politics. We are currently affiliated with
Internet & Society Co:llaboratory in cooperation with the international blogging network FutureChallenges.org of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, and actively work within the framework of their 9th initiative on ‘Globalization and the Internet’, which has a special focus on TAFTA | TTIP.


For submissions, further inquiries and/or additional information please contact us:

Marc Venhaus, PhD Candidate at the Graduate School of Global Politics (GSGP), Freie Universität Berlin & Project Manager of the 9th Initiative at Internet & Society Co:llaboratory. Email: marc.venhaus@collaboratory.de | Twitter: @MVenhaus

Miguelángel Verde Garrido, PhD Candidate at the Graduate School of Global Politics (GSGP), Freie Universität Berlin & International Experts Liaison of the 9th Initiative at Internet & Society Co:llaboratory. Email: m.verde@collaboratory.de | Twitter: @M_Verde