College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Graduation Date

6-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Department/Program Conferring Degree

International Studies

Keywords

United States-Jordan relations, bilateral free trade agreements, foreign policy, trade policy, labor migration

Abstract

This thesis examines the United States-Jordan Free Trade Agreement in the context of American foreign and trade policy in the aftermath of the Cold War. The agreement, ratified in 2001, was the first signed by the United States which includes labor and environmental protections in the main text of the Agreement. The thesis examines the Agreement in the context of the Middle East peace process, the overarching goals of American foreign policy after the Cold War. It places the Agreement in the context American trade policy at a time when bilateral FTAs grew in importance and the Clinton Administration's desire to create a broad coalition that would support such agreements through including labor and environmental provisions in the main text of the Agreement. It examines the economic effects of the Agreement in the decade and a half following its ratification, including the surprising development of the Jordanian textile industry using a largely imported labor force. These results are then used to discuss current American political attitudes towards trade, with a focus on bilateral FTAs in particular.

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