scholarly journals Consensus and Diversity in the World Trade Organization: A Queer Perspective

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 32-37
Author(s):  
Claerwen O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
World Trade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
The World ◽  
Consensus Procedure ◽  
Consensus Decision Making ◽  
Consensus Decision

When the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1995, it was seen as representative of a new era in international law, which claimed to be more functional and cooperative than the Cold War years. Fast forward to 2022, most commentators proclaim that the WTO is in “crisis.” For over two decades, its membership has struggled to reach decisions and, in 2019, the WTO was “dejudicialized” by the United States blocking consensus on appointments to the Appellate Body. In seeking to understand what went wrong, some commentators have focused on the operation of the WTO's consensus procedure and, in particular, the way it can afford states a veto power. In this essay, I take a different approach by considering how the discursive effects of consensus decision making have played into some of the problems facing the WTO today. Inspired by Gibson-Graham's work on “queering the economy,” I do so by unmooring queer theory from its base of gender and sexuality and applying queer insights to a discourse analysis of statements made in relation to the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, which lasted from 1986 until 1993 and culminated in the agreement to establish the WTO. I show how the use of consensus decision making served to cultivate an intolerance of economic difference by giving rise to discourses of worldwide sameness and agreement. Finally, I consider what a queerer approach to trade-related decision making might look like.

Consensus decision-making and democratic discourse in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 and World Trade Organisation

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-68
Author(s):  
Claerwen O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
World Trade ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Consensus Procedure ◽  
Democratic Discourse ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Consensus Decision Making ◽  
Consensus Decision

Abstract This paper provides a genealogy of consensus decision-making and democratic discourse in the multilateral trade regime. It argues that the contemporary link between the World Trade Organisation’s consensus procedure and ideas of ‘international democracy’ has its roots in a struggle that took place over the international economic order in the 1960s and 1970s.

Decision-Making in the World Trade Organization

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus-Dieter Ehlermann ◽  
Lothar Ehring
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
The World

scholarly journals India – Measures Affecting the Automotive Sector

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (S1) ◽  
pp. 158-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Bagwell ◽  
Alan O. Sykes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Automotive Sector ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject

This study addresses the disputes brought to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the European Communities and the United States concerning certain Indian measures affecting the importation of automobiles and components in the form of “completely knocked down” (CKD) and “semi-knocked down” (SKD) kits. The measures in question originated during a time when India employed extensive import licensing requirements, ostensibly for balance of payments purposes. India’s broad licensing regime was challenged in 1997 by the European Communities and the United States, resulting in a settlement with the European Communities and a ruling in favor of the United States pursuant to which India agreed to abolish its import licensing system. Some restrictions in the automotive sector remained, however,which became the subject of this proceeding.

scholarly journals CHALLENGES FACED BY THE WTO’S ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN TRADE IN SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 121-125
Author(s):  
Nino Parsadanishvili
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Trade In Services ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
The World

resent paper focuses on current crises in international trade in services negotiations from the perspective of consideration of trading interests of developing and least developed countries in line with the operational agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Through the analysis of the existing international legal texts and scholarly works particular attention is paid to the different rounds of trade in services negotiations in parallel to the consideration of the results of relevant ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organization, drawing attention to the situation with regards of consideration of the interests of developing and least developed country members of the WTO. Special focus is paid to the complexity of the decision making process and it’s complication over time due to increased participation of parties concerned in the process of trade in services negotiations resulting in no progress in the overall process. Next to analyzing the challenges faced by the WTO in trade in services negotiations, especially in terms of considering the interests of developing and least developed countries, paper shows the ways that could be used during 2020 Kazakhstan Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization for finding solutions to simplify the decision making process and establish freer international trade in services by the way of either implying new approaches in interpreting the existing multilateral treaties that deal with trade in services between all member states of the WTO or deepening the discussions on a new plurilateral agreement helping the organization to overcome the stagnated process of trade in services negotiations and therefore ensuring the compliance with it’s own operational goals.

scholarly journals The (in)effectiveness of the decisions Of the world trade organization in the analysis of the negative impacts of the New economic policy for u.s. agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1827-1840
Author(s):  
Flávio Marcelo Rodrigues Bruno
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Upland Cotton ◽  
The United States ◽  
The World ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The U.S

The present research has as its thematic approach, the (in) effectiveness of the decisions of the international commercial court from the recent economic policies for agriculture in the United States in relation to the determinations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the litigation on the granting of subsidies to cotton – Upland Cotton. It is the pretension of this research, to delimit the study of the subject in the sense of demonstrating that the United States continued to have negative impacts on the international market, even though they were defeated in the litigation against Brazil in the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. In the litigation of cotton subsidies – Upland Cotton, Brazil and the United States enter into controversy regarding the granting of this instrument of economic policy by the U.S. government to an industry in which Brazil has comparative advantages and competitive production, especially in international trade. The WTO ruling on the case has proved that the U.S. economic policy on the use of subsidies, in particular those granted to agriculture, constitute a protectionist practice that interferes negatively with international trade. An interdisciplinary legal analysis from the economic and political point of view is essential in the context of international trade relations that have a profound impact on U.S. trade policy practices.

Trade Policy, Health, and Corporate Influence: British American Tobacco and China's Accession to the World Trade Organization

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Holden ◽  
Kelley Lee ◽  
Anna Gilmore ◽  
Gary Fooks ◽  
Nathaniel Wander
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Small World ◽  
Round Table ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Competition ◽  
Chinese Market ◽  
British American Tobacco ◽  
Corporate Influence ◽  
The World

Tobacco market liberalization can have a profound impact on health. This article analyzes internal documents of British American Tobacco (BAT), released as a result of litigation in the United States, in order to examine the company's attempts to influence negotiations over China's accession to the World Trade Organization. The documents demonstrate that BAT attempted to influence these negotiations through a range of mechanisms, including personal access of BAT employees and lobbyists to policymakers; employment of former civil servants from key U.K. government departments; use of organized business groups such as the Multinational Chairmen's Group and the European Round Table; and participation and leadership in forums organized by Chatham House. These processes contributed to significant concessions on the liberalization of the tobacco market in China, although the failure to break the Chinese state monopoly over the manufacture and distribution of cigarettes has ensured that foreign tobacco companies' share of the Chinese market has remained small. World Trade Organization accession has nevertheless led to a profound restructuring of the Chinese tobacco industry in anticipation of foreign competition, which may result in more market-based and internationally oriented Chinese tobacco firms.

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