Spatial Imaginaries and the Geopolitics of Trade: A Constructivist Perspective

This Special Issue explores the spatial politics of trade through a constructivist lens. While recent debates in international trade policy have emphasised geostrategic concerns, we argue that space in trade governance is not merely a geopolitical backdrop, but a politically contested arena. The establishment, management, and contestation of trade relations are shaped by, and contribute to, social constructions of space, including the power structures that underpin them. Borrowing from political geography and the literature on spatial imaginaries, we set out the conceptual categories and guiding questions that structure this Special Issue. We examine how trade policies construct spatial imaginaries that reflect and reproduce geopolitical hierarchies, particularly between the Global South and North. With a focus on the trade politics of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), we demonstrate why it is beneficial to analyse trade through a nuanced conceptualisation that understands space as contingently constructed, rather than as a neutral container.