Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the theory of comparative advantage as a justification for free trade. To what extent have the critics of free trade managed to establish the case credible alternatives trade policies?

Globalisation and free trade are surely one of the most commonly banded-about academic terms in the modern or post-modern common world, comprising the mass media and the educational curriculum that we are served today. It is glorified and vilified in equal measure by different peoples of different walks of life. It is frequently verified as playing a very evident part in the everyday lives of basically the entire human race, love it or loathe it.

It could be said that globalisation has destroyed many former self sufficient local economies in the third world….(short extract)