African Countries in the World Trading System: International Trade, Domestic Institutions and the Role of International Law

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melaku G. Desta ◽  
Moshe Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
International Law ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trading System

Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 315-322
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Irwin
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trading System ◽  
And Function ◽  
Open Markets ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Role And Function

This chapter concludes that international trade and trade policies are frequently the object of condemnation rather than approbation. It explains how the condemnation are often the result of misconceptions about the benefits of international trade, the impact of trade policies, and the role and function of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Though the last few decades have been marked by a general reduction in trade barriers, the matter is not settled because the pressures to weaken the commitment to open markets never abate. The chapter emphasizes on difficult policy choices at the intersection of trade policy and climate change that could hold key battles over the world trading system in coming years. It also highlights the several benefits of world trade and the contribution of trade to the welfare and prosperity of billions of people around the world.

scholarly journals International Trade and Development Law: A Legal Cultural Critique

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Picker
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Development ◽  
Effective Interaction ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Cultural Critique ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
The World

To the extent that international trade and development policy employs legal methods, institutions and participants, there is a need to take into account the role of legal culture. There are many different legal cultures in the world, including the widely found common and civil law traditions, as well as the many non-western legal traditions and sub-traditions found within the hundreds of different legal systems spread across the globe. International law has, however, traditionally eschewed consideration of legal culture—arguing that international law is unique, is sui generis, and as such domestic legal traditions were not relevant. Yet, the humans involved in creating and nurturing international legal fields and institutions will themselves reflect the legal culture of their home states, and will often import aspects of those legal cultures into international law. The same must be true of international development law. In addition, international legal fields, such as international development law, must often work within domestic legal systems, and as such they will directly interact with the domestic legal traditions. It is thus important to understand the interaction between the legal cultures reflected in the relevant part of that international law and in that of the domestic legal system. Such an understanding can be useful in ensuring the effective interaction of the two systems. This paper explores these themes, continuing the author’s past and ongoing consideration of the role of legal culture in international law, including its role within institutions such as the World Trade Organization.

Global Trade Law: Challenges and Options for Africa

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olu Fasan
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Government Procurement ◽  
Global Trade ◽  
Rule Base ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trading System ◽  
Systemic Problems

The Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, completed in 1994, has fundamentally transformed the legal landscape of the world trading system, making the WTO arguably the most powerful international economic institution in the world. Yet, the systemic problems that have dogged the WTO since its establishment in 1995 have their roots in the nature of this transformation and its implications for developing countries, especially African states. Developing countries, hitherto excluded from GATT rules, became subject to expanded WTO legal rules and disciplines on a range of new areas, including services, intellectual property rights and investment measures. The possibility of deepening and widening the rule-base of the trade regime is also likely with the Doha agenda, which includes possible negotiations on new rules dealing with investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, and transparency in government procurement.Clearly, the increasing legalization and internationalization of trade rules have implications for weak states. International legalization involves sophisticated bargaining where power relations play a significant role. The purpose of this article is to explore, in the context of some of the theories of international law and political economy, how the preferences and interests of African countries are reflected in international rule making that involves both weak and powerful states. The article traces the institutional and legal evolution of the world trading system and how African countries have been affected by these developments. The new Doha agenda is examined with a view to establishing whether it holds out any real hope of redressing the imbalances in the system. Finally, suggestions are made as to how global trade rules can be fair, and therefore made to work for poor states.

A Comparative Foreign Relations Law Agenda

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-96
Author(s):  
Oona A. Hathaway
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Domestic Institutions ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Comprehensive Examination ◽  
The World ◽  
Politics And Law ◽  
Domestic Law

International law is the product not only of a political and legal process that takes place between states but also of processes that take place within them. Accordingly, examining domestic institutions that states use to create international law is essential to our understanding of international law. And yet to date there has been remarkably little cross-national work examining the role of domestic politics and law in the creation of treaties and other international law. This chapter aims to contribute to an emerging conversation about how best to carry out a more comprehensive examination of differences between states in the law governing their engagement in the world around them. It maps out five areas that offer opportunities and challenges for the study of comparative foreign relations law: first, the choice of methodology, whether quantitative or qualitative. Second, the underrepresentation of certain states in existing foreign relations scholarship. Third, the domestic political and institutional structures that shape the interplay between the legislative, executive, and judicial functions within states. Fourth, the role of geopolitics. Fifth, the chapter sounds a cautionary note about approaching international law through domestic law. The challenge for scholars the world over will be to fill out this agenda and then begin to tackle it.

scholarly journals A RELAÇÃO ENTRE ESTADO E AS ENTIDADES PRIVADAS NA REGULAÇÃO DO COMÉRCIO INTERNACIONAL POR MEIO DOS REGULAMENTOS E PADRÕES PRIVADOS

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-220
Author(s):  
Patricia Yurie Dias
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
World Trade Organization ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Wto Dispute Settlement ◽  
Private Standards ◽  
Complementary Role ◽  
The World

RESUMOO trabalho analisa o papel complementar dos regulamentos e padrões privados dos Estados e das entidades não estatais às regras da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC) com o intuito de gerar maior segurança e qualidade para os produtos no âmbito do comércio internacional. A OMC visa promover a liberalização e eliminação da discriminação do comércio internacional. Dessa forma, por meio do estudo de alguns casos submetidos ao Órgão de Solução de Controvérsias (OSC) da OMC, em que pese a maioria dos casos submetidos ao OSC terem tido desfechos distintos, constatou-se que os padrões privados podem complementar as regras da OMC, desde que não sejam medidas protecionistas  disfarçadas de barreiras não tarifárias ao comércio internacional.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Direito Internacional; Jurisdição Internacional; Padrões privados; Comércio Internacional; OMC.ABSTRACTThe paper examines the complementary role of the private regulations and standards of States and non-state entities to the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in order to promote safety and quality for products in the scope of international trade. The WTO aims to promote the liberalization and elimination of discrimination in international trade. Thus, through the study of some cases submitted to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), despite the fact that most cases submitted to the DSB had different conclusions, it was found that private standards can complement the rules of the WTO, if they are not protectionist measures disguised as non-tariff barriers to international trade.KEYWORDS: International Law; International Jurisdiction; Private Standards; International Trade; WTO.

Trade and Development in International Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles-Emmanuel Côté
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
International Trade ◽  
International Law ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Third World ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Trading System ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
The World

The intersection between trade and development in international law appeared in the wake of the decolonization movement, in the second half of the 20th century. Newly independent states joined the older Latin American republics in the shared awareness of their underdevelopment and identified themselves as the Third World, most notably after the landmark Bandung conference of 1955. Developing countries soon gained majority in the UN General Assembly and tried to reshape the rules of international law in order to restore fairness in the multilateral trading system. Its governing instrument, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was perceived as fundamentally flawed since it did not address development and the typical economic issues associated with it. The organization of the first UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1964 and its establishment as an organ of the General Assembly were instrumental in the proposal of rules to take developing countries into account in international trade law. The GATT incorporated special and differential treatment (S&DT) provisions for developing countries, and other legal regimes were created to deal with issues of specific interest to them, such as international trade in commodities. This process culminated with the attempt by developing countries to establish a New International Economic Order (NIEO) in the 1970s. The NIEO agenda was dominant on the international stage and in legal thinking on trade and development until the early 1990s. International recognition of a right to development connected the topic of trade and development with the field of human rights. The establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 and globalization profoundly shook the foundations of the rules governing trade and development. It marked a paradigmatic shift in international law, where trade liberalization came largely to be seen as the key to development. Renewed critical theories emerged fleshing out Third World approaches to international law, dealing notably with trade-related issues. The topic of trade and development remains relevant in early-21st-century international law, as exemplified by the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations and by the fact that most WTO members still identify as developing countries in the world trading system. The need to further address the issues faced by developing countries remains pressing. The topic of trade and development focuses on North-South or South-South trade relations and must be disambiguated from the concept of sustainable development. The latter does not deal specifically with developing countries and refers to development that meets current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.

scholarly journals Produkcja i handel kawą na świecie i w Polsce

2016 ◽  
pp. 105-117
Author(s):  
Adam Andrzejuk
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Price Difference ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Coffee Production ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
Coffee Beans ◽  
The World ◽  
Coffee Market

This article presents the world coffee market, coffee production in the developing countries, and international trade in coffee. The research concerns the leading countries of coffee beans production, the main importers and processors of coffee, and levels of production and trade of coffee in separate periods. The article also presents the main countries behind re-export of coffee beans. The analysis shows the increasing price difference between grains sold in the exporting countries and markets where coffee processing and consumption takes place. Issues of small- and medium-sized agricultural producers and their dependence on the price of grains, were pointed out, especially in African countries. The article shows the role of Poland in the international grain coffee trade.

Between Theories of Trade and Development: The Future of the World Trading System

2015 ◽  
pp. 122-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Trebilcock
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Preferential Trade Agreements ◽  
Doha Round ◽  
Most Favored Nation ◽  
Trading System ◽  
The World ◽  
World Trading System

This article traces the role of developing countries in the GATT/WTO trading regime, and the evolving legal framework for their participation. It then maps onto this framework evolving schools of thought amongst development economists on strategies for economic development. It goes on to argue that the paralysis in the current Doha Round of the WTO, primarily reflecting fault-lines between developed and developing countries, and paralleled by the dramatic proliferation of preferential trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties, requires fundamental rethinking of the orientation of the multilateral (WTO) trading system, in particular the need to be more accommodating of plurilateral agreements amongst sub-sets of members that are open to subsequent accession by other members, primarily on a conditional most-favored-nation basis.

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