Directory

Dr. David A. Lynch is Professor in the Department of Social Science at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota where he has taught political science since 1996. He served as chair from 2004 to 2016 and remains coordinator of the Political Science Program. He is the author of “Trade and Globalization: An Introduction to Regional Trade Agreements,” published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2010. Lynch has also written over a dozen chapters on international relations, international political economy and American foreign policy in edited books including the chapter on trade in the United Nations Association of the USA’s “A Global Agenda” from 1996 to 2005. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his B.A. in political science from Iowa State University. He lives in Winona, Minnesota.

• Areas of Expertise

  International Trade, International Political Economy, International Relations

• Professional Organizations

  - American Political Science Association
  - Minnesota International Center
  - International Studies Association

• Education

  - Iowa State University: B.A., Political Science (1989)
  - University of California, Santa Barbara: Ph.D., Political Science (1995)

• Experience

  Recent Article:

  Internal and External Sources of American Foreign Economic Policymaking: The North American Free Trade Agreement
  University of California, Santa Barbara
  1995

  Much of the International Political Economy (IPE) literature on American foreign economic policymaking stresses either societal, state, or international factors as the source of trade policy. The complex reality is that the causal weight of these potential determinants varies over time and from issue to issue. Recent literature stresses this more eclectic explanation and focuses on the interactions between these potential variables. With this in mind, the dissertation assesses the relative importance of these contending explanations and explores how these variables interacted in the formation of the US negotiating position in the automotive and textile sectors in the recent NAFTA negotiations. The dissertation compares the efficacy of these approaches in explaining NAFTA to that of the two-level game approach developed by Robert Putnam. By using the two-level game approach to explore the interactions between the above variables, the dissertation attempts to better understand NAFTA as well as augment the International Political Economy "sources of foreign economic policy" literature. Most importantly, the dissertation probes the efficacy of the two-level game approach itself. Are the propositions suggested by this approach at the theoretical level found in the case studies at hand? What are the conditions in which many of the actors' negotiation strategies will be employed and employed successfully in the negotiations? The dissertation finds that the two-level game approach is useful in explaining the negotiations. Moreover, a number or refinements regarding the two-level game approach's primary propositions are suggested.

• Links

  Lynch's PSGS Hub