IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijsepp/v39y2012i10p750-763.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Non‐economic gains of Sri Lanka's FTAs with neighbours

Author

Listed:
  • Jayatilleke S. Bandara
  • Wusheng Yu

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: does a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) lead to an improvement in the security of a member country and greater peace between two member countries in the developing world? Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews existing literature and uses the idea of non‐economic gains from regional trading agreements to explain how Sri Lanka managed to use FTAs to neutralise India and obtain military assistance from Pakistan using its FTAs with two countries during the recently concluded war. Findings - Even though political objectives were not explicitly outlined in Sri Lanka's two FTAs with its big rival neighbours (India and Pakistan), the FTAs helped Sri Lanka to successfully execute the war against the LTTE (the Tamil Tigers) by neutralising India on the one hand and gaining military assistance from Pakistan on the other. Research limitations/implications - The research approach is basically qualitative. However, there is need to develop a comprehensive theoretical model to capture non‐economics gains from FTAs. Originality/value - Although there is a growing body of literature on the underlying political and strategic motivations of countries forming regional and bilateral trading arrangements, this paper adds to understanding of what motivates small developing countries to form trade agreements with big neighbours.

Suggested Citation

  • Jayatilleke S. Bandara & Wusheng Yu, 2012. "Non‐economic gains of Sri Lanka's FTAs with neighbours," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(10), pages 750-763, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:39:y:2012:i:10:p:750-763
    DOI: 10.1108/03068291211253377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03068291211253377/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03068291211253377/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/03068291211253377?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderton, Charles H., 1995. "Economics of arms trade," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 18, pages 523-561, Elsevier.
    2. Polachek, Solomon W, 1997. "Why Democracies Cooperate More and Fight Less: The Relationship between International Trade and Cooperation," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(3), pages 295-309, August.
    3. Schiff, Maurice & Winters, L Alan, 1998. "Regional Integration as Diplomacy," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 12(2), pages 271-295, May.
    4. Siriwardana, Mahinda, 2004. "An Analysis of the Impact of Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement and Its Implications for Free Trade in South Asia," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 19, pages 568-589.
    5. Fernandez, Raquel & Portes, Jonathan, 1998. "Returns to Regionalism: An Analysis of Nontraditional Gains from Regional Trade Agreements," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 12(2), pages 197-220, May.
    6. Schiff, Maurice & Winters, L Alan, 1998. "Dynamics and Politics in Regional Integration Arrangements: An Introduction," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 12(2), pages 177-195, May.
    7. Saman Kelegama & Indra Nath Mukherji, 2007. "India-Sri Lanka Bilateral Free Trade Agreement : Six Years Performance and Beyond," Trade Working Papers 22104, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    8. Pitigala, Nihal, 2005. "What does regional trade in South Asia reveal about future trade integration? Some empirical evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3497, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lakatos, Csilla & Walmsley, Terrie, 2009. "Modeling cross-border investment in CGE: some alternatives and mechanisms," Conference papers 331838, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    2. Joseph Francois & M. Rombout, 2000. "Preferential Trade Arrangements, Induced Investment, and National Income in a Heckscher-Ohlin-Ramsey Model," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 00-061/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Guglielmo Caporale & Christophe Rault & Robert Sova & Anamaria Sova, 2009. "On the bilateral trade effects of free trade agreements between the EU-15 and the CEEC-4 countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(3), pages 573-573, October.
    4. Chang, Yuan-Ching & Polachek, Solomon W. & Robst, John, 2004. "Conflict and trade: the relationship between geographic distance and international interactions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 491-509, September.
    5. Ahmed, Saira & Ahmed, Vaqar & Sohail, Safdar, 2010. "Trade agreements between developing countries: a case study of Pakistan - Sri Lanka free trade agreement," MPRA Paper 29209, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Emilie M. Hafner-Burton & Alexander H. Montgomery, 2012. "War, Trade, and Distrust: Why Trade Agreements Don’t Always Keep the Peace," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 29(3), pages 257-278, July.
    7. Vicard, Vincent, 2012. "Trade, conflict, and political integration: Explaining the heterogeneity of regional trade agreements," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 54-71.
    8. Rakesh Kumar, 2021. "South Asia: Multilateral trade agreements and untapped regional trade integration," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 2891-2903, April.
    9. L. Alan Winters, 2000. "Regionalism and Multilateralism in the Twenty-First Century," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8749, Inter-American Development Bank.
    10. Christophe Rault & Robert Sova & Ana Maria Sova, 2008. "The Role of Association Agreements within European Union Enlargement to Central and Eastern European Countries," Aussenwirtschaft, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science, Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economics Research, vol. 63(03), pages 309-328, September.
    11. Bayar, Ali. & Diao, Xinshen & Yeldan, A. Erinc, 2000. "An intertemporal, multi-region general equilibrium model of agricultural trade liberalization in the South Mediterranean NICs, Turkey, and the European Union," TMD discussion papers 56, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    12. Emilie M. Hafner-Burton & Alexander H. Montgomery, 2008. "Power or Plenty," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 52(2), pages 213-242, April.
    13. Philippe Hugon, 2002. "Les économies en développement au regard des théories de la régionalisation," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 43(169), pages 9-25.
    14. Ornelas, Emanuel, 2008. "Feasible multilateralism and the effects of regionalism," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 202-224, January.
    15. Ram Upendra Das, 2009. "Regional Economic Integration in South Asia : Prospects and Challenges," Macroeconomics Working Papers 22987, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    16. Adama BAH & Sampawende Jules TAPSOBA, 2010. "Civil Conflicts and Regional Economic Integration Outcomes in Africa," Working Papers 201009, CERDI.
    17. Kangni Kpodar & Patrick Imam, 2016. "Does a Regional Trade Agreement Lessen or Worsen Growth Volatility? An Empirical Investigation," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 949-979, November.
    18. Winters, L. Alan, 2000. "Regionalism and Multilateralism in the Twenty-First Century," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 2188, Inter-American Development Bank.
    19. Kaminski, Bartlomiej & de la Rocha, Manuel, 2003. "Stabilization and association process in the Banlkans : integration options and their assessment," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3108, The World Bank.
    20. Ockert Pretorius & Ernst Drewes & Mariske van Aswegen & Gerard Malan, 2021. "A Policy Approach towards Achieving Regional Economic Resilience in Developing Countries: Evidence from the SADC," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:39:y:2012:i:10:p:750-763. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.