The WTO and the Doha Negotiation in Crisis?

Abstract

Is the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a legitimacy crisis and might the protracted Doha negotiations be evidence of it? This article understands the notion of 'legitimacy crisis' as a severe threat to an institution's viability due to fundamental shifts in the legitimising ideas underlying the institution, an external threat to its values or its ability to fulfil its functions. It contends that the WTO is not yet definitely in a legitimacy crisis because the Doha negotiations still reveal the commitment of the WTO members to the values and legitimising ideas of the WTO. Perception of a legitimacy crisis fuels the negotiation of free trade agreements (FTAs) amongst key WTO members, which could be used to advance the Doha negotiations, force developing countries into agreement and shape the outcome of the negotiations in favour of developed countries. Such an outcome, this chapter cautions, could be the real onset of a legitimacy crisis if developing countries gain very little from a Doha agreement. To prevent a crisis and move the negotiations forward this chapter suggests that the different trade-related development needs of developing countries need to be assessed more seriously and developing countries need to be enabled to address serious adverse consequences linked to any trade liberalisation they undertake.

Efficient Multilateralism or Bilateralism? The TTIP from an EU Trade Policy Perspective

“…Although the financial crisis that broke out in 2008 did not challenge the idea that trade should be as free as possible (Subramanian and Kessler, 2013;De Ville and Orbie, 2011), the difficulty in reaching agreements at the multilateral level put into question the ability of the WTO to be effective (Narlikar, 2012;Bhagwati, 2008). It may even be argued that the difficulties to enact the mini-package agreement achieved in December 2013 in the Bali Ministerial Meeting have not done much good to restore the WTO image (Herwig, 2013). Can we therefore consider that since 2009 and at least up until 2013 the DR negotiations difficulties were too severe?…”

“…The answer to this key question is not as straightforward as one may think because stalemates in multilateral negotiations are not so rare (Herwig, 2013). As most GATT rounds have tended to be declared in danger at different points in time and have finally led to agreement (Mansfield and Reinhardt, 2003;Cohn, 2002), it is difficult to judge the severity of negotiation difficulties on the bases of the number of years without progress.…”

European Union’s Pursuit of Bilateral Trade Agreements Is Compatible With Promoting Multilateralism

“…The literature does not provide a definition of what constitute "difficulties which are too severe", or "stalled" multilateral negotiations, and the answer to this key question is not straight forward because stalemate is not uncommon in multilateral negotiations (Herwig, 2013). Since most GATT rounds tended to be declared "in danger" at different points in time even though they finally led to agreement (Mansfield and Reinhardt, 2003;Cohn, 2002), it is difficult to judge the severity of the challenges facing negotiations on the bases of the number of years without progress.…”

“…Although the financial crisis that broke out in 2008 did not directly challenge the idea that trade should be as free as possible (Subramanian and Kessler, 2013;De Ville and Orbie, 2011), the subsequent difficulty of reaching any plurilateral or multilateral agreements put into question the ability of the WTO to be effective (Azevedo, 2015;Narlikar, 2012;Bhagwati, 2008). The difficulties achieving the mini-package agreement in December 2013 at the Bali Ministerial Conference did little to rebuild the WTO's image (Herwig, 2013), and even if the Nairobi Ministerial Conference agreement (on agriculture, export subsidies, and issues affecting least developed countries) in December 2015 was a brief period of optimism, the sectoral agreements reached at the WTO Ministerial Conferences confirmed that the principle of a single undertaking (one large multilateral agreement) of the DDR is dead.…”