Peace as a natural effect of trade: A potentia ad actum

Abstract

Initial idea to focus a plenary panel of 19th International Conference “Evolution of International Trading System: Prospects and Challenges” held in St. Petersburg State University on March 17th–19th 2022 on the issue of interaction between political and trade dimensions of international cooperation came to the organizers as early as mid-2021. Substantial escalation of the geopolitical tension by Spring 2022, on the one hand, made the selected topic much more relevant, on the other hand additionally limited the list of potential discussants. Nevertheless, despite of this obstacle programme committee managed to arrange the international team of experts giving their answers to the questions asked by moderators. The questions included necessity and possibility for the radical reassessment of the perception traditionally prevailing among social scientists. According to this perception expansion of trade has the positive impact on political relations between trading partners. Another topical issue deals with possible repercussions of economic sanctions actively imposed by some members of international community. The experts also discussed the motives behind decisions made by many foreign companies to exit from the Russian market. At the final stage of the panel its participants expressed their views on the prospects of the global governance system reforming.