Trilemma Tradeoffs in
International Relations:
An Analytical Framework
Page 6
Full article published in: Global Studies Quarterly, Volume 4, Issue 1 | 2024
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Dr. Olivier Lewis
Assistant Professor
Defense and Security Program
Rabdan Academy
Over the past fifty years, scholars have drawn attention to the
consequences
of
trying
to
overcome
open-
ness/effectiveness/autonomy trilemmas, especially in monetary
policy and trade policy. Despite this, few have noticed the ubiquity
of such policy trilemmas in international relations. This article
presents a comprehensive analytical framework that captures the
core concepts and causal mechanisms relevant to understanding
these trilemmas, and identifies opportunities for future research.
The
first
section
provides
an
analytical
review
of
openness/effectiveness/autonomy trilemmas.
By doing so, it highlights three features of trilemmas: that goal
attainment is a question of degree, that goal attainment varies
across time, and that policy constraints affect states
asymmetrically. The second section presents a typology of
trilemma-based policy goals (openness, regulatory effectiveness,
and policymaking autonomy) and associated “disciplining”
mechanisms that explain the likelihood of trilemma tradeoffs (i.e.,
market-based, politics-based, and law-based mechanisms). The
third section shows how the trilemma framework presented in this
article can facilitate the empirical study of threefold policy
tradeoffs in all aspects of international relations, including
security and defense.
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