Elisabeth van Lieshout

Graduate Student Research Funding | 2017 - 2018 Academic Year

Demanding Deals: Developing Countries' Behind-the-Border Commitments in Trade Agreements

Elisabeth van Lieshout’s dissertation project examines why developing countries have included commitments of domestic reforms into their recent trade agreements, when they previously vocally resisted pressures to bind their hands on stricter “behind-the-border” regulation. She argues that a fundamental transformation in economic production patterns has altered countries' development strategies and political interest group dynamics. With funding provided by the Stanford Center for Global Poverty and Development, she will be conducting a series of interviews in Malaysia to better understand the preferences and perceptions of policy makers, firms, and civil society.

Elisabeth van Lieshout, Department of Political Science

Elisabeth van Lieshout is a PhD candidate in political science and an MA candidate in economics at Stanford University. Her research interests are the politics of international trade, the creation and effect of trade agreements, and public perceptions of trade policy. van Lieshout’s dissertation asks when and why developing countries choose to incorporate commitments on domestic policy into their trade treaties. van Lieshout has a BA in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University and an MSc in global politics from the London School of Economics.

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