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Steven Buchta
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Steven Buchta is a Master of Arts candidate at the Norman Paterson School of Inter-
national Affairs, Carleton University (fortsasksteve@hotmail.com).
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Steven Buchta
The recent rise in regional and bilateral preferential trade
agreements (PTAs) highlights the need for further analysis of
the “spaghetti bowl” of agreements and regulations that inte-
grate global markets. This article gives specific attention to the
regulation of South-South regional trade agreements (RTAs)
and these agreements’ capacity to generate new flows of intra-
regional trade. The author uses an interdisciplinary approach
to examine both the legal frameworks and economic impacts
of different South-South RTAs. Case studies of AFTA and
COMESA offer insight into the inadequacies of the multilateral
trading system’s current regulations, which promote trade in
blocs of industrializing member-states. The article concludes
with various recommendations to improve South-South RTAs’
ability to foster intra-regional trade and encourage liberal trade
practices between emerging market economies.
