Development at the World Trade Organization

Description

Seeking to open paths for reconsidering the trade and development relationship at the WTO, this book takes into account both the heritage of the trade regime and its present dynamics. It argues that the institutional processes for creating and implementing trade rules at the WTO and the actual regulatory outcomes are inseparable. A consideration of the WTO's development dimension must examine both jointly. It shows that the shortcomings of the Doha Development Round are in part due to a failure to assess trade rules as part of the legal processes and institutions that produced them. This book devotes significant analysis to the systemic impact of the WTO as an institution on developing and least developed members. From a pragmatic perspective, it provides a coherent and systematic analysis of the legal meaning, the implementation, and the adjudication of special and differential treatment rules for developing members. It then evaluates the different regulatory approaches to trade and development from a more theoretical perspective. The book finishes by presenting a range of proposals for a better balance between trade liberalization and the development needs of many WTO members. Content: Introduction PART 1: DEVELOPMENT AND ITS INSTITUTIONS IN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW: WHO DECIDES WHAT DEVELOPMENT MEANS? 1. The Multiple Meanings of Development 2. The Contribution of International Organizations to Development Policy-Making PART 2: FRAMING DEVELOPMENT AT THE GATT AND WTO 3. The Trade and Development Relationship during the GATT Years and the Genesis of the WTO 4. "Developing Member" and Least Developed Country Status at the GATT and WTO: Self-Designation versus the Politics of Accession 5. From the Uruguay Round to the Doha Round: Changing Dynamics in Developing Countries' Participation PART 3: UNDERSTANDING AND CONTEXTUALIZING WTO DEVELOPMENT PROVISIONS 6. Special and Differential Treatment in the WTO Agreements: A Legal Analysis 7. Invoking Development in Dispute Settlement 8. Reconsidering Special and Differential Treatment in the Global Context 9. Institutional Processes: What Impact on Developing Members? PART 4: RETHINKING THE TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT RELATIONSHIP AT THE WTO 10. The Doha Round: Chronicle of a Death Foretold? 11. Strategic Challenges to Integrating Development at the WTO 12. Towards Development-Oriented Rules at the WTO: Some Proposals Conclusion