ABSTRACT
A new level of international government such as the European Community is based on a distinct system of checks and balances between the agents involved in policy making. This in turn determines the potential for trade protection. This chapter presents the EC’s system of checks and balances with its policy makers, their interdependence and their constraints with emphasis on the implications for trade policy making. It therefore provides a basis for understanding the detailed studies of EC trade policy making in the following chapters. There is bias in this system towards the interests of member governments. They have to approve almost all decisions which allows a strict control over the EC administration, the Commission, and its work. The dominance of national policy makers is a noteworthy feature of EC politics because it is the root of the EC’s politicized protection.
