Exploring Religious Studies as Remedy for Value Challenges in International Trade and Policy

This study has exposed value challenges in international trade. The analysis is based on reviews of related literature, discussions with some academics from sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia and Latin America through the ResearchGate medium; supplemented by experiences and observations from the global South. The research identified, among other things, that: majority of developing countries do not benefit much from the trade due to embedded system biases. The Doha agreements that should have delivered on a range of important matters like subsidies, tariffs, and intellectual property so as to remove the trade inequalities for years have also not been addressed. This situation does not only undermine the legitimacy of WTO, but also its moral stance. This study is important because it has not only highlighted value challenges in the trade system, but also suggested the integration of religious studies’ qualitative perspectives with the quantitative neoclassical economic models that undergird the trade system. This would make the latter human centered. As such, the study has contributed to the ongoing academic discourse about the role of religion in matters of economic development, particularly in international trade and policy.