Political economy, economics and development 941 International Afairs 95: 4, 2019 her chapter on Australia, points out that although it is not a developing country, many of the issues which cause controversy there are of potential relevance to developing countries. She highlights debates around investment agreements and the right to regulate the exploi- tation of natural resources, land ownership and critical infrastructure, as well as around national security and state-owned enterprises. One of the book’s key arguments is that demands for enlarged policy space, and thus the state’s authority to regulate, are at the centre of an alternative legal order originating from the global South. This has been motivated by changing perceptions, in some states, about investment regulation after they started facing complaints brought by private investors in the 2000s. They challenged policy measures that these states implemented to further public policy goals, as explained in the chapters on South Africa, by Malebakeng Agnes Forere, and on India, by James Nedumpara. The chapter on Brazil, written by the editors, ofers a comprehensive explanation of the country’s trajectory from resistance to bilateral invest- ment agreements in the 1990s to the designing of its own model for investment agreements in 2015—the Agreement on Cooperation and Facilitation of Investments (ACFI). This is an interesting case of a developing country acting as a norm entrepreneur on an issue central to the international economic order. The chapter on China, by Vivienne Bath, underlines that although the country is an active participant in international investment and in negotiating and signing international investment agreements, its treaty activity does not demonstrate major dissatisfaction with the current regime or strong synergies with the other members of the global South. Rodrigo Polanco Lazo notes that Chile’s investment agreements have been concluded largely under the infuence of treaties previously negotiated with northern developed countries. In this respect, China and Chile, despite their diferences, are both status quo countries in compar- ison to the other states analysed in the book: this highlights the complexities involved in the notion of a ‘global South’. The book also opens avenues for new research on topics related to investment agree- ments. It would be interesting to see, for example, a comparative framework that system- atized the mechanisms behind the difusion and localization of investment agreements, the role of domestic political coalitions, the size of a country’s economy, its level of interde- pendence, political system and relational power. This work is concrete evidence that experiences (and scholars) from the global South have much to contribute to debates in international law, economics and international relations. Policy-makers, diplomats and activists at international forums and elsewhere, involved in the discussions on investment agreements, will fnd that this book is an indis- pensable reference. Haroldo Ramanzini Junior, Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil Understanding mega free trade agreements: the political and economic governance of new cross-regionalism. Edited by Jean-Baptiste Velut, Louise Dalingwater, Vanessa Boullet and Valérie Peyronel. Abingdon: Routledge. 2018. 234pp. £102.45. isbn 978 1 13870 912 6. Available as e-book. Understanding mega free trade agreements is part of a set of titles released by Routledge in the series ‘International political economy of new regionalism’ coordinated by Timothy Shaw. According to the editors of this volume, free trade agreements (FTAs), when looked at from a cross-regional perspective, represent a new form of economic integration. They argue that ‘cross-regional trade agreements have been the defning trend of the current Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ia/article-abstract/95/4/941/5525000 by guest on 05 July 2019