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The World Trade Organization (WTO) is scarcely ten years old, but it has already generated a mountain of debate, controversy, and outrage. Rulings on beef hormones and tuna-dolphin cases provide explicit examples of how the organization regulates into areas of individual consumer choice, ethical preferences, and cultural habits. The deep and far-ranging impact of the WTO on peoples' everyday lives means that it is not just an institution of interest to economists, but to everyone, a fact that was perhaps most graphically illustrated by the demonstrations that have become a regular feature associated with high-level meetings of the WTO. This book provides a carefully considered explanation of what the WTO is, what it does, and how it goes about executing its tasks, and gives a clear understanding of the mandate, structure, and functioning of the WTO that is essential to appreciating the controversy behind the organization.
Acknowledgements Preface
1. Who Needs an International Trade Organization and Why?
2. The Formation of the World Trade Organization
3. Decision Making and Negotiation Processes in the WTO
4. The Mandate of the WTO
5. Enforcing the Agreements: Dispute Settlement and the WTO
6. The Doha Development Agenda
7. The Burden of Governance References Further Reading
Of the three major international financial organisations, The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The World Trade Organization (WTO), the last one is by far the youngest, yet it garners most headline news and controversy these days. In order to understand why, it is worthwhile to invest some time in reading about the origins of WTO in General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the organization that preceded it, as well as to understand how agreements are brokered and reached in WTO. This book provides a useful and informative introduction to WTO that answers those general questions fairly well. However, one gets a sense that the motivation behind the book was somewhat geared in direction of the critics of the WTO, rather than providing a more balanced account of the purposes and goals of the organization. In books defense it covers the origin and ramifications of the most recent controversial issues involving WTO fairly well, and it would be a useful and informative read for anyone interested in some basic facts about this organization.
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Overview
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is scarcely ten years old, but it has already generated a mountain of debate, controversy, and outrage. Rulings on beef hormones and tuna-dolphin cases provide explicit examples of how the organization regulates into areas of individual consumer choice, ethical preferences, and cultural habits. The deep and far-ranging impact of the WTO on peoples' everyday lives means that it is not just an institution of interest to economists, but to everyone, a fact that was perhaps most ...