Aid & Trade: The European Union-African, Caribbean, & Pacific Group of States Framework within a Multi-Level Europe

This project demonstrates how the European Union's aid and trade relationship with the African, Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) group of states fits within the context of a multi-level Europe. The analysis draws on the multi-level governance (MLG) typology designed by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks, and the earlier intellectual endeavours of G.P.E. Walzenbach and colleagues to explain the EU governmental and policy process policies in aid and trade with ACP. By examining the nature and evolution of European Union policy processes regarding international trade and development with ACP countries through the Type 2 model of MLG, it is the intent of this author to show how the European Union and its member states can coordinate their actions effectively, whilst maintaining individual sovereignty and without having to fit directly into the more hierarchical Type 1 model of MLG which applies to the overall structure of the European Union.