In the Shadow of Law or Power? Consensus-Based Bargaining and Outcomes in the GATT/WTO

2002 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hard Law ◽  
Sovereign Equality ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
Consensus Decision Making ◽  
Pareto Improving ◽  
Consensus Decision

This article explains how consensus decision making has operated in practice in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO). When GATT/WTO bargaining is law-based, consensus outcomes are Pareto-improving and roughly symmetrical. When bargaining is power-based, states bring to bear instruments of power that are extrinsic to rules, invisibly weighting the process and generating consensus outcomes that are asymmetrical and may not be Pareto-improving. Empirical analysis shows that although trade rounds have been launched through law-based bargaining, hard law is generated when a round is closed, and rounds have been closed through power-based bargaining. Agenda setting has taken place in the shadow of that power and has been dominated by the European Community and the United States. The decision making rules have been maintained because they help generate information used by powerful states in the agenda-setting process. Consensus decision making at the GATT/WTO is organized hypocrisy, allowing adherence to the instrumental reality of asymmetrical power and the sovereign equality principle upon which consensus decision making is purportedly based.

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.

scholarly journals Consensus Decision Making by Fish

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 1773-1777 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J.T. Sumpter ◽  
Jens Krause ◽  
Richard James ◽  
Iain D. Couzin ◽  
Ashley J.W. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Consensus Decision Making ◽  
Consensus Decision

scholarly journals PERAN PERAWAT DALAM MENGANALISIS BUDAYA ORGANISASI DAN BUDAYA KESELAMATAN PASIEN DI RUMAH SAKIT

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhaini Atmayana Purba
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Consensus Decision Making ◽  
Consensus Decision

Latar belakang : Membangun budaya keselamatan pasien merupakan langkah awal dalam pengembangan keselamatan pasien. Budaya keselamatan pasien di rumah sakit merupakan bagian dari budaya organisasi, sehingga pengkajian tentang budaya organisasi diperlukan untuk menjadi panduan dalam mengembangkan keselamatan pasien. Tujuan : Tujuan penulisan ini yaitu mengidenifikasi peran perawat dalam menganalisis budaya organisasi dan budaya keselamatan pasien di rumah sakit. Metode : Metode yang digunakan merupakan literatur review atau suatu perbandingan atau analisis antara satu jurnal dengan jurnal lainnya dari berbagai sumber seperti referensi jurnal, buku teks dan e-book. Hasil : Tipe budaya Clan didapatkan sebagai tipe budaya organisasi yang dominan sekaligus kuat dan menjadi panduan untuk melakukan perubahan dalam organisasi khususnya dalam pengembangan keselamatan pasien. Rencana tindak lanjut dibuat dan disepakati dalam Consensus Decision Making Group (CDMG) untuk mengartikulasikan unsur keselamatan pasien dalam visi dan misi organisasi serta penguatan budaya keselamatan melalui pelatihan keselamatan pasien bagi seluruh staf. Kesimpulan : . Rencana dalam tindak lanjut dibuat dan disepakati dalam Consensus Decision Making Group (CDMG) untuk mengartikulasikan unsur keselamatan pasien dalam visi dan misi organisasi serta penguatan budaya keselamatan melalui pelatihan keselamatan pasien bagi seluruh staf dan juga perawat.

scholarly journals Communication speeds up but impairs the consensus decision in a dyadic colour estimation task

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 191974
Author(s):  
Liutao Yu ◽  
Chundi Wang ◽  
Si Wu ◽  
Da-Hui Wang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Group Decision ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Consensus Formation ◽  
Exact Role ◽  
Estimation Task ◽  
Consensus Decision Making ◽  
Consensus Decision ◽  
Better Than

Communication plays an important role in consensus decision-making which pervades our daily life. However, the exact role of communication in consensus formation is not clear. Here, to study the effects of communication on consensus formation, we designed a dyadic colour estimation task, where a pair of isolated participants repeatedly estimated the colours of discs until they reached a consensus or completed eight estimations, either with or without communication. We show that participants’ estimates gradually approach each other, reaching towards a consensus, and these are enhanced with communication. We also show that dyadic consensus estimation is on average better than individual estimation. Surprisingly, consensus estimation without communication generally outperforms that with communication, indicating that communication impairs the improvement of consensus estimation. However, without communication, it takes longer to reach a consensus. Moreover, participants who partially cooperate with each other tend to result in better overall consensus. Taken together, we have identified the effect of communication on the dynamics of consensus formation, and the results may have implications on group decision-making in general.

scholarly journals Verba volant, scripta manent? Intra-party politics, party conferences, and issue salience in France

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 701-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Ceron ◽  
Zachary Greene
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Topic Models ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Issue Salience ◽  
Internal Process ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
Policy Statements

Intra-party groups influence parties’ policy priorities. However, scholars have yet to map the pathways with the greatest impact. We argue that party congresses serve as venues for decision-making, allowing speeches and motions to support differing priorities. Considering parties’ internal process, we propose that deliberations and alternate motions independently affect resulting policy statements. We examine this perspective focusing on meetings of the French Socialist Party. We use Structural Topic Models to analyze the issues included in 74 motions, 1439 speeches, and 9 manifestos from congresses held between 1969 and 2015 to evaluate whether factional motions or individual speeches better reflect the content of manifestos and to assess the internal agenda-setting process. Results suggest that motions better predict the content of parties’ manifestos. However, when focusing solely on majority faction, we find that both motions and speeches predict manifestos’ contents. This supports a theory of intra-party decision-making and factional dominance.

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