Susan Ariel Aaronson is associate research professor at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs.
Until July 2006, Aaronson was senior fellow and director of Globalization Studies at the Kenan Institute, the Washington branch of the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina (the Washington office is now closed). From 2001-2004, Aaronson devised and directed a major study, funded by the Ford, UN and Levi Strauss Foundations, that examined how U.S. public policies can promote or undermine global corporate social responsibility (CSR). The project resulted in three reports: CSR in international markets, CSR and trade, and CSR in China. Her books include Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weigh Human Rights in Trade Policymaking (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Trade and the American Dream, and Taking Trade to the Streets: The Lost History of Public Efforts to Shape Globalization. Aaronson has also written two primers on trade: "Trade is Everybody's Business" for high school students and "Are there Trade Offs When Americans Trade?" for adults.
Featured Work
FEB 28, 2011 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Innovations: Better Safe than Sorry
Corporate executives should never have to apologize for violations when they can instead build global opportunities by advancing human rights.
OCT 29, 2008 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Financial Crisis Hurts U.S. Soft Power
The financial crisis could spell the end of America's global economic leadership, but working with other nations and building new institutions of governance may reinvigorate ...
OCT 16, 2008 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: A Slick Solution for Oil Markets
Although oil prices are declining, the global oil market is out of whack and prices remain high, causing economic suffering around the world. To get ...
MAY 27, 2008 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: ROUNDTABLE: U.S. Trade Policy under the Next President
Sherman Katz, Susan Aaronson, Franklin Lavin, and Thea Lee answer the question, How should U.S. trade policy evolve under the next president?
APR 23, 2008 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Marrying Trade and Human Rights
When human rights are violated, policymakers are pressured to do something, and they often turn to trade for leverage. Is this incentive effective?
DEC 12, 2007 • Podcast
Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weigh Human Rights Concerns in Trade Policymaking
Is trade the best tool to achieve human rights objectives? Which human rights and for whom? Do trade agreements enhance or undermine the process? Susan ...
DEC 4, 2007 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Trade Policy for Humanity
Devin Stewart talks with Susan Aaronson about her new book, "Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weigh Human Rights Concerns in Trade Policymaking," coauthored with Jamie ...
DEC 4, 2007 • Article
A Human Rights Argument for the Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Many human rights and labor rights leaders argue that the U.S. should not reward Colombia with a permanent free trade agreement right now because ...
OCT 23, 2007 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: ROUNDTABLE: Future of U.S. Trade Policy
With Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton calling for a "timeout" on future free trade agreements and support for free trade waning among Republicans, Policy Innovations asked ...
JUN 14, 2007 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: The Man Who Could Right the Trade-Development Imbalance
Few development advocates perceive Robert Zoellick as a man committed to making trade fairer for the world's poor. But he has long tried to realign ...