Cover

Title

Copyright

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Notes on contributors

Preface

Abbreviations

1 Introduction

References

Part I: Setting the stage

2 The origins and back to the future: a conversation with Ambassador Julio Lacarte Muró

3 After globalisation? WTO reform and the new global political economy

Introduction

The Crisis of Multilateralism and the ‘Demise’ of the WTO

The ‘New Circumstances’ of WTO Reform

From Existential Crisis to Institutional Transformation:What Future for the WTO?

Conclusion

References

Part II: Boundaries

4 Internal measures in the multilateral trading system: where are the borders of the WTO agenda?

Introduction

Reasons for Linking Internal Measures and Policies to Trade Negotiations

Trade relatedness matters

When internal measures affect relative prices

Internal measures can affect trade related fixed costs

When internal measures shape the functioning of national markets

Beyond trade-relatedness

Taking advantage of cross-linkages among issues in negotiations

Guaranteeing the effectiveness of domestic policies

Internal Policies in WTO Law

GATT and GATS

Subsidy agreement

SPS and TBT Agreement

TRIPS, TRIMs and government procurement

Labour, environment and competition: the themes that didn’t make it

Global Institutional Design: Defining the Roles of Different Multilateral Platforms

Factors that have Affected Agenda-Setting in the Past

Lack of influence of concerns about ‘policy effectiveness’, ‘policy coherence’, or ‘races to the bottom’ on the WTO agenda

An ambiguous attitude towards harmonisation

Export interests and the anti-circumvention argument appear to have influenced the shape of WTO agenda

Enforcement considerations play a role

Conclusions

References

5 Legitimising global economic governance through transnational parliamentarisation: how far have we come? How much further must we go?

Introduction

A Framework of Debate: The Need for and the Lack of Democratic Legitimacy in Global Economic Governance

Legitimacy

Democracy

The democratic deficit of the WTO

Legitimisation Through Parliamentarisation

The Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO)

Historical development and legal basis

Objectives and functions

Structure and decision-making

Content of meetings and outcome

The PCWTO’s contribution to democratic legitimacy of the WTO

The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB)

Historical development and legal basis

Objectives and functions

Structure and institutional setting

Contribution of the PNoWB to transnational democratic legitimacy

Whither Now? Elements to Improve and Increase the Parliamentarisation of Global Economic Governance

References

Part III: Emerging and established powers

6 Adapting to new power balances: institutional reform in the WTO

Introduction

Institutional Adaptation and Reform: The Responsiveness of the WTO to Changing Balances of Power

Explaining Disengagement Amidst Reform

Proposals for Reform

Solution 1: Executive board

Solution 2: ‘Club-of-Clubs’/critical mass approaches

Solution 3: a new voting system

Conclusion

References

7 Delegation chains, agenda control and political mobilisation: how the EU Commission tries to affect domestic mobilisation on the DDA

Introduction

The DDA: A Never-Ending Process with an Open Compromise Triangle

Principals and Agents, Agents and Principals, and Delegation Chains

Principal–agent theory

Chains of delegation

Dynamic agenda setting, contingent mobilisation, and preference making

Agenda setting, ultimate agent preferences, and rippling along the delegation chain

Delegation chains, agenda control, selective mobilisation, and the EU in the DDA

Two Pieces of Evidence

The Commission’s objectives and frustrations with agenda expansion in the WTO

Mobilised interests in the EU Member States: a clue from parliamentary debates

Conclusion

References

Part IV: Weaker actors

8 Developing countries and monitoring WTO commitments in response to the global economic crisis

Introduction

Theory and Inputs to Monitoring WTO Commitments

The theory behind public sector monitoring of WTO commitments

A brief history of monitoring before and during the global economic crisis

The four questions that information generated from these new initiatives could help to answer

Monitoring Needs Due to Potential Crisis-Induced Abuses of WTO Commitments

Crisis-induced abuses of trade remedies?

Other tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed at the border?

Crisis-induced abuses of subsidies and other behind-the-border measures?

Conclusions and a Reminder not to Forget Permanent and Future Monitoring Needs

References

9 Exploring the limits of institutional coherence in trade and development

Introduction

Institutional Coherence: the Conceptual Framework

Criteria for Institutional Efficiency and Coherence

Institutional Comparative Advantage

Systemic and Coordination Issues

The Changing Nature of Trade Agreements

Summary and Conclusion

References

Part V: The consensus principle

10 The WTO as a ‘living instrument’: the contribution of consensus decision-making and informality to institutional norms and practices

Introduction

The WTO Agreement and Annexes as a ‘Living Instrument’

Consensus Decision-Making and Informality in the GATT/WTO

Decision-making in the GATT: shades of informality

Formalisation of informal consensus decision-making

An unravelling of the major interests’ rule through informality

The Continuing Importance of Consensus Decision-Making and Informality in keeping the WTO ‘Alive’

Informal consultations

Small group and ‘Green Room’ meetings

Coalitions and alliances

Chairpersons, facilitators and ‘friends’

Conclusions

References

11 Crisis situations and consensus seeking: adaptive decision-making in the FAO and applying its lessons to the reform of the WTO

Introduction

Clarifying Crisis and Consensus

Crisis

Consensus

Active and passive consensus

Crisis in the FAO and Response Strategies

Crisis in the FAO

Third-party agenda setting par excellence: the independent external evaluation

Reform as a response to institutional crisis

Promoting Active Consensus in the WTO: Crisis-Lite

Four crisis scenarios for the WTO

Crisis-lite

Conclusion

References

Part VI: Quo vadis?

12 A post-Montesquieu analysis of the WTO

Introduction

Montesquieu and the Post-Montesquieu Frame

Defining post-Montesquieu political thought

Applying the Post-Montesquieu Framework to the WTO

The legislative power in the WTO

The judicial power in the WTO

The executive power in the WTO

The WTO and its constituents

Conclusion

References

13 Reforming the WTO: the decision-making triangle revisited

Introduction

The Current Decision-Making Triangle

Member-driven

Consensus principle

Single undertaking

Why it doesn’t work

Reforming the System

Incremental change?

The reshaping of decision-making: looking beyond Doha

Conclusion

References

14 Barriers to WTO reform: intellectual narrowness and the production of path-dependent thinking

Introduction

The Institution of Multilateral Trade Liberalisation

The Narration of Multilateral Trade Liberalisation

Conclusion

References

Index