The Constitutionalization of the World Trade Organization: Legitimacy, Democracy, and Community in the International Trading System (International Economic Law Series)

What is the World Trade Organization? Has it become a type of a "constitution"? Will it curb international trade discrimination and open up markets for developing countries, or will it prevent States from choosing the economic systems they want? This book untangles debates about constitutionalization and argues that the WTO is not, and should not, be described as a constitution by the standards of any conventional definition, or by the lights of any constitution to which we ought to aspire. Under current models, a constitutionalized WTO may curtail the ability of states to decide matters of national economic interest. The risk is an emphasis upon economic goals and free trade theory over other social values. Instead, Cass argues that what is needed, is a constitutionalized WTO which considers the economic development needs of States. Trading democracy, and not trading constitutionalization, is the biggest challenge facing the WTO.

Deborah Z. Cass is at Senior Lecturer in Law, London School of Economics and Political Science.