IISPPR

Category: International Relations

Post Brexit EU-UK Relations:Trade and Cooperation Agreement

By Tamanna Yadav The United Kingdom‘s departure from the EU had a significant impact on the continent. The UK was a member of the EU since January 1973, but unfortunately, its membership come to an end in January 2020. While the UK had turned into an independent state, it faced several economic setbacks as it was establishing itself as a non-EU member state. The Trade Corporation Agreement (TAC) was signed between the two countries in December 2020 to help maintain the relationship that had existed for 47 years. The TAC laid the basis for trade, cooperation, and governance between the two countries. The UK has been trying to establish itself as a resourceful, strong-headed country while facing challenges along the way. EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement 2020: The United Kingdom exited the European Union on January 31, 2020, and both countries reached an agreement regarding their future relationship. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement was signed in December 2020 and, after the approval of the EU parliament, adopted by the British council (EU Trade Relations With the United Kingdom. Facts, Figures and Latest Developments., 2022). The United Kingdom (UK) European Union partnership is based on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which was applied on January 1, 2021, and came into force in May 2021. While the TCA is a trade agreement, it covers not just trade in sectors such as goods, services, and investment and also a range of areas falling in the EU’s interest, such as energy and sustainability, fishery, and air and road transport (EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement | Access2Markets, n.d.). The TCA will by no means be able to match the standard of economic integration that existed when the UK was an EU member, but the TCA goes beyond traditional free trade agreements.  TCA provides a strong basis for preserving the longstanding relationship between the two countries, as it includes three major —-. First, a free trade agreement with cooperation on economic, social, environmental, and fishery issues. The FTA offers a new spectrum on issues of transport, energy, social security coordination, energy and sustainability, and state aid. Second, a close partnership on citizen’s security, which focuses on recognizing the need for cooperation between the judiciary and law enforcement authorities for fighting cross-border crime and terrorism. It also shed light on the fact that the UK being a non-EU state, will not receive the same facilities as before. Thirdly, an overarching horizontal governance framework. The horizontal agreement focuses on giving legal clarity to businesses and individuals about the functioning and process of the TAC. Furthermore, foreign policy, external security, and defence cooperation have not been covered by the agreement. There is therefore no framework set between the EU and the UK to coordinate the imposition of sanctions on countries since January 2021. As TAC is more focused on trade, it does not cover discussions on financial services, UK data protection regime. (The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, n.d.) Impact of the UK’s exit from the EU: The United Kingdom’s economy has faced a hit to the economy since Brexit. Trade, investment, and jobs have faced major difficulties with the new system at hand. Companies trading with the EU had faced challenges with the new framework, new rules, and new checks put in place. This put in fear over 550 billion euros of trade between the UK and its trading partners (David, 2023). Significantly, the direct impact of Brexit was the introduction of trade barriers, tariffs and quotas. Small scale firms faced several challenges in exporting goods as they were operating at a smaller level (Portes, 2023). A total of 71 trade deals are in the process of completion but have been stuck, considering a vast majority of the deals have been replicated since Britain was a part of the EU. The UK has signed deals with Australia, New Zealand, but it is doubtful if they will help boost the economy. In addition, there are talks of deals with India and members of a trans-Pacific pact. But it will take time for development and establishment. Trade deals with the US and China remain difficult to establish as an independent country as opposed to when the UK was an EU member. The UK government should let in more workers in the country as a lack of workers has resulted in shortages and increased bills for the customers. According to a study done by the think tanks centre of the European Reform have noticed that there are 330,000 fewer workers for jobs after Brexit. It might be a small proportion of total workers but difficulties are being faced in sectors such as transport, hospitality and retail (David, 2023). In conclusion, the UK’s exit from the EU has resulted in economic turmoil and challenges in the country. TAC is one such agreement to redefine the relationship between the UK and the EU. The TAC will help in reinforcing ties and help the UK to become an independent country. However, it underscores the complexities and challenges to overcome the effect of its exit on the economy, particularly the financial sector and foreign policy coordination. As both sides aim to navigate an improved future, it aims for negotiation and adjustments its way seeking to maximize job opportunities, and balancing trade with new partners. References

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The psychological impact of dictatorship in a world of democracy. A brief look at authoritative regimes.

The impact of dictatorship or authoritative regimes on the mental health and overall psychology of individuals extremely depends on the history of the country and their people. I argue that countries that have a history of good leadership and good democracy, suffer more mentally if that very country falls under a dictatorship or authoritative regime, in contrast to countries with no history of good leadership or democracy, which have been under dictatorship for at least two generations. Often in authoritative regimes, rulers twist everything to their demands and needs. How they want the country to run, in their favour. Very often, in doing so, they also twist the minds of individuals, with propaganda, portraying themselves as gods, or supreme leaders, or in extreme cases, fear plays a bigger role in how people behave in a country, because of the regime they’re under. Similarly, with individuals living in closed dictatorship regimes, that have been running for at least two generations, how do the individuals feel, how is their mental health, and how do they react mentally, when they come in contact with a different country, a freer country compared to theirs?  In this analysis report, I have used two articles, one of which was on Egypt, its dictatorship, its unstable government and the psychology of individuals living in such a state. This is a report on refugees who have escaped from North Korea, a closed dictatorship country with high control and censorship over their citizens, seeking refuge in South Korea, and China. Elsayed, Yasser Abdel Razek wrote an article on ‘Gods never fall sick or die dictatorship and mental health in Egypt’ which emphasised and brought out a perspective on the mental health of individuals living in Egypt, a country that has seen other forms of government and regimes around them, and they have been under an unstable government for a long time. As per Elsayed, Yasser Abdel Razek, corruption, loot, unemployment, suppression of freedom of speech and various other means of suppression through which, citizens get frustrated. Which leads to them hoping to get rid of their leaders. When that doesn’t happen, they hope for them to pass on naturally, and die a natural death. But after years of going through the same torment, and regime, individuals start to view them as inevitable supreme leaders, losing hope for a better tomorrow. In such countries, the socioeconomic problem is also a big factor that affects everyone’s mental health, not just in such countries, but generally too. But specifically in such countries, hopelessness, vulnerability to disasters, vulnerability in general, insecurity, and risk of torture or hurt increase tremendously. Fustration rises to a level where citizens believe their leader can do anything. They see them as supreme leaders, as mentioned before. Another study, done by Woo-Teak Jeon, MD, corresponding author Shi-Eun Yu, MA, Young-A Cho, PhD, and Jin-Sup Eom, MA on Refuges who escaped from North Korea, refuging in South Korea and analysed their mental health. They were hoping from an extreme dictatorship country to breathe the air of the other side. The paper is titled ‘Traumatic Experiences and Mental Health of North Korean Refugees in South Korea’. Which studied the trauma and experiences of individuals who escaped. In such regimes, escaping is close to impossible, hence it is quite given that casualties and difficulties will be encountered. The research gave an idea of how that affected individuals, and how the regime affected them. Individuals were also given personality assessments, which revealed that they (refuged North Koreans) scored higher than the South Koreans. In gender comparison, men showed more alcohol problems and non-support to others. A study was conducted before this paper in the 2000s called the Hong’s Report. Which reported and analyzed individuals from North Korea, who escaped and entered China. This has been compared with this paper, and a few striking points have been made in them. Firstly, between 2006 and 2007, there was a weakening in social control by the government, shown by the progress in their life, without any big change. Secondly, it showed that over time, the trauma of escaping and even before, living in a dictator country, had reduced. But later, another study by Yu, in 2006, showed that the trauma levels have increased again. Perhaps we could see the slipping of the tight hold that the dictator had. Furthermore, through these studies, it is indicated that looking for mental health issues in North Koreans was wrong because they had nothing wrong with them. What’s interesting is that, after their escape, that’s when they developed mania and Schizophonia, after coming in contact with the outside world. Perhaps because of the huge cultural shock and the vast difference between North Korea to any other country. The research also mentioned, that men and women also portrayed very different behaviours, men being the more aggressive alcoholics who were provided no social support in North Korea, compared to women, who showed more depressive tendencies. Interestingly, the North Korean refugees also were given the warmth test. This test evaluates how warm, loving and caring an individual is, to how cold or dismissive they are. The scale gives a spectrum of interpersonal relationships. As it turns out, females in North, and South Korea, have more or less the same level of warmth that they show, compared to men, refugees in North Korea, portray more warmth than South Korean men. This shows, that even with less social support to men, they are still warm in their interpersonal relations, hospitable, as well as more readily acceptable to others. The North Korean refugees, find it hard to adjust to the much freer society that South Korea is. With trauma and living life under major control, it will take support and understanding from South Korea, to integrate them into their society. And so is the case with major dictatorship countries, where trauma and bad experiences leave a mark on individuals, who don’t have mental illness, but get one when they seek refugee in other countries, other

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