Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Political Science Free Trade Understanding the Arguments Free Trade Understanding the Arguments Understanding the Arguments – Free Trade Pros and Cons Free trade is exchange of goods and commodities between parties without the enforcement of tariffs or duties. The trading of goods between people, communities, and nations is not an innovative economic practice. Nations are however the main element within a free trade agreement. By examining free trade through three different political ideologies: Liberal, Nationalistic, and Marxist approaches, the advantages and disadvantages will become apparent. Theses three ideologies offer the best evaluation of free trade from three different perspectives. The fundamental component for a liberal political economy is the concept that there be no interference from the government or any other outside source. It is this ‘laissez-faire’ approach that enables the liberal political economy to create what is known as a division of labour. Within this division of labour there are individuals who manufacture goods and those who manage goods. It is the latter however, that end up with the most capital in the long run. The advantage of free trade from a liberal perspective is the ability of the minority controlling the goods to ascertain more wealth than the majority manufacturing the goods. What Smith’s perspective does not take into account is why nations with more low-level workers are less prosperous than nations with more advanced means of production. Nations that have advanced technologically are better off because their means of production allow for more production from less workers, but cost more and are less appealing to those in control. This element relates directly to the disadvantage of a liberal perspective. While the rich become more affluent and cheaper workers are available in struggling nations, there are fewer opportunities for the skilled worker to find employment and in turn contribute to the economy. The liberal approach to free trade is heavily associated with the fundamentals of capitalism. Free trade is therefore beneficial to the minority who are capable of manufacturing their goods in societies that have more unskilled labourers and in turn can be compensated less. The labourers in the nations that have the technology to do something better but not necessarily cheaper are at the greatest disadvantage within a liberal free trade political economy. A nationalist political economy places the emphasis on the nation as a whole. The nation is more important than the individual whereas the opposite was found in the liberal political economy. A nation that executes free trade with a nationalistic approach is looking for the most benefits to the nation itself. The nations that benefit from free trade with this approach place an important emphasis on state power. That is, how powerful is the nation within the global community. Free trade enables nations to strive for global supremacy by importing materials at a cheap price and manufacturing them so as to export them at a higher price. The advantages of nationalistic free trade is larger countries (similar to the minority in liberal political economy) are empowered to attain materials for mass production at a cheaper price, from it’s less powerful trading partners. By manufacturing mass amounts of goods, all aspects of the economy (the workforce and other indirect secondary sectors) will benefit as a nation becomes more industrialised. Not only does that nation itself reap the benefits but the other sectors (the private) as well. Without examining the effects on their trading partners, a nationalistic political economy allows for the most wealth and power in both the public and private sectors. The disadvantage of a nationalistic approach is less powerful countries are forced to sell their resources to the larger countries who in turn can manufacture the resources or find someone else to manufacture the resources and than have their resources sold back to them as goods at higher price. The Marxist perspective discredits both the nationalistic and liberal perspective by stating that each model omits certain key components. For example: Liberal economies strive to have no overproduction; whatever is produced will be consumed. Marxists argue that according to the law of disproportionality supply and demand will never be equal to one another, except for brief moments. Therefore, capitalism enables the world to evolve, but not at a fair pace. Certain ‘players’ fall behind and as a result become exploited. Marxist’s also argue that this unbalanced evolution doesn’t simply happen on the global level but also within a nation itself. This imbalance of power and capital is why the advantages of the Marxist perspective contradict the first two perspectives completely. As with both the liberal and nationalistic models the Marxist model explains how there is a creation of more jobs and more work, yet the allocation of wealth is split evenly throughout the population. There is no longer a minority ruling the majority. No matter what one’s role is, everyone is treated equally. The advantage within free trade from a Marxist perspective is poorer nations are allowed the same opportunities as the richer nations. The disadvantage is that no matter how much one nation produce’s (their effort), they are entitled to the same opportunities. The wealthy and perhaps more productive nations would view this as unfair to them. Free Trade is a beneficial idea if all parties involved, that is, the workers, the state, and the private sector, could be represented equally and justly. Until all three ingredients are given the same chances, each perspective will allow for different advantages and disadvantages. By examining the liberal, nationalistic, and Marxist perspectives individually and in contrast with one another, free trade can be seen as a completely different political economy from one region or nation to the next. Bibliography: Word Count: 930
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