The World Trade Organization: Institutional Development and Reform

241 Pages·2010·2.291 MB·English

by  Eberhard Bohne (auth.)

The World Trade
Organization
Institutional Development and Reform
Eberhard Bohne
IIASSeries:GovernanceandPublicManagement
InternationalInstituteofAdministrativeSciences(IIAS)
TheInternationalInstituteofAdministrativeSciencesisaninternationalassoci-
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tionalorganisationitsactivitiesarecentredonthestudyofpublicadministration
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GovernanceandPublicManagementSeries
Serieseditedby:
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WimvandeDonk,TilburgUniversity,TheNetherlands
SeriesEditorialCommittee:
GérardTimsit,IIASPublicationsDirector
RoletLoretan,IIASDirectorGeneral
WimvandeDonk,MemberandSeriesEditor
MichielDeVries,Member
ChristopherPollitt,Member,IRASEditorinChief
FabienneMaron,IIASScientificAdministratorandPublicationsCoordinator
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Titlesintheseriesinclude:
EberhardBohne
THEWORLDTRADEORGANIZATION
InstitutionalDevelopmentandReform
MichielS.DeVries
THEIMPORTANCEOFNEGLECTINPOLICY-MAKING
MichielS.DeVries,P.S.Reddy,M.ShamsulHaque(editors)
IMPROVINGLOCALGOVERNMENT
OutcomesofComparativeResearch
WouterVanDoorenandStevenVandeWalle(editors)
PERFORMANCEINFORMATIONINTHEPUBLICSECTOR
GovernanceandPublicManagementSeries
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978–0230–50656–5(paperback)
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The World Trade
Organization
Institutional Development and Reform
Eberhard Bohne
ProfessorofPublicAdministration,
GermanUniversityofAdministrativeSciencesSpeyer,
GermanResearchInstituteforPublicAdministration
©EberhardBohne2010

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-23257-0
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
Contents
ListofFiguresandTables ix
Preface xi
Acronyms xii
1 TheWTOasanInternationalOrganization 1
I Introduction 1
II Issues:Effectiveness,equity,andlegitimacy 6
III Researchquestions 8
2 ApproachestotheAnalysisofInternational
OrganizationsandtheWTO 9
I Conceptsofinternationalorganizations 9
1 State-centeredconcepts 10
2 Politicalsystemstheory 12
3 Organizationalanalysis 13
4 Networkperspectives 17
II StudiesontheWTO 18
1 Internationalrelationsperspective 18
2 Internationallawperspective 20
3 Organizationalperspective 23
4 Practitioners’perspective 24
5 Conclusions 24
3 ConceptualFramework,Variables,andMethod 26
I Conceptualframework 26
1 Apublicadministrationperspectiveon
internationalorganizations 26
2 Conceptsofactor-centeredinstitutionalism 30
3 Focal,formal,andinformalorganizations 33
4 Modesofgovernance 37
5 Performancecriteria 39
II Researchvariables 43
III Researchmethods 43
1 Interviews 43
2 Survey 45
v
vi Contents
3 Legalanalysisandliteraturereview 45
4 Adequacyandvalidityofmethods 45
4 WTOasaPublicFormalOrganization 47
I Agreements,membership,andprinciples 47
II Tasks 51
1 Tradenegotiations 51
2 Implementationoftradeagreementsandtechnical
assistance 51
3 Tradepolicyreview 53
4 Disputesettlement 54
III Organizationalstructure 54
IV Procedures 58
1 Tradenegotiations 58
2 Implementationoftradeagreements 60
3 Tradepolicyreview 62
4 Disputesettlement 63
V SummaryofformalWTOcharacteristics 66
5 TheWTOinAction 67
I Tradenegotiationsandrelatedareasofactivities 68
1 Tradenegotiations 68
2 Technicalassistance 89
3 Research 95
II Implementationoftradeagreements 101
1 TheroleoftheSecretariat 101
2 Formalandinformaldecisionmaking 101
III Tradepolicyreview 103
1 TheroleoftheSecretariat 103
2 Formalandinformaldecisionmaking 105
IV Disputesettlement 106
1 TheroleoftheSecretariat 106
2 Formalandinformaldecisionmaking 108
3 Theroleofnon-stateactors 108
V TheinformalWTO 109
VI TheWTOasahybridactor 111
1 PerspectivesontheSecretariat 112
2 Negotiations,technicalassistance,and
research 113
Contents vii
3 Implementation,tradepolicyreview,anddispute
settlement 115
4 Conclusions 116
6 PerformancePatternsoftheWTO 118
I Effectiveness 119
1 Taskareas 119
2 Explanatoryfactors 125
3 Conclusions 137
II Equity 138
1 Taskareas 138
2 Explanatoryfactors 149
3 Conclusions 153
III Legitimacy 154
1 Taskareas 154
2 Explanatoryfactors 158
3 Conclusions 162
IV Interdependenciesbetweeneffectiveness,
equity,andlegitimacy 163
7 ReformPerspectivesandProposals 165
I Overviewofreformproposals 165
1 StrengtheningtheSecretariatand
DirectorGeneral 165
2 DevelopingtheWTOstructure 166
3 ImprovingWTOrelationswithNGOs 167
4 Formalizingstructuresandproceduresintheareaof
tradenegotiations 169
5 Developingthedisputesettlementsystem 170
II Assessmentofreformproposals 170
1 StrengtheningtheSecretariatand
DirectorGeneral 170
2 DevelopingtheWTOstructure 177
3 WTOrelationswithNGOs 182
4 Formalelementsininformaltradenegotiations 187
5 Developingthedisputesettlementsystem 194
III Timetoact 196
1 Needtoreform 196
2 Strategyofreform 197
3 Recommendedreformmeasures 199
viii Contents
Annex1 202
ProposalsforWTOreformwhichwereevaluated
byinterviewpartners 202
Annex2 203
SurveyQuestionnaire 203
Notes 206
Bibliography 213
Index 225
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 OrganigramoftheWTO 3
3.1 ConceptualframeworkfortheanalysisoftheWTO
system 31
4.1 OrganizationalstructureoftheSecretariat 57
4.2 WTOdisputesettlementprocedure 64
5.1 FrequencyofinformalmeetingsintheWTO 74
5.2 AssessmentofNGOinformationandadviceto
developingcountries 87
5.3 EvaluationoftheSecretariatas“tool”or“leader”by
interviewpartners 113
6.1 Informationontheimplementationoftradeagreements 121
6.2 Compliancewithrecommendationsintradepolicy
review 123
6.3 Compliancewithdisputesettlementdecisions 125
6.4 Correctivemeasuresinimplementation 135
6.5 Effectsofinformalproceduresontradeinterestsof
smallerdevelopingcountriesandLDCs 139
6.6 Effectsofgrouprepresentationontradeinterestsof
smallerdevelopingcountriesandLDCs 141
6.7 Memberstatesatisfactionwithinformationsuppliedby
theWTOSecretariat 144
7.1 FutureroleoftheWTOSecretariataspreferredby
interviewpartners 171
7.2 FormalrightofDirectorGeneralofmakingpolicy
proposalsforovercomingnegotiationimpasse 175
7.3 NGOrighttocommentonWTOdraftagreements 185
7.4 Partialformalizationofinformalprocedures 187
7.5 Restrictionsonblockingconsensusafterinformal
negotiations 189
7.6 Consensusblockingbasedonwrittenreasons 191
ix