What is the WTO for? Ideology and the pursuit of sustainability

Abstract

Conference paper, presensted at: Symposium on Socio-Legal and Theoretical Perspectives on International Economic Law, Co-organised by Fiona Smith (UCL) and Lisa Toohey (UNSW), UCL, November 2013

This paper engages with the inherent contingency and contestability of the ideological assumptions which have driven WTO decision-making. Through the lens of the principle of sustainable development, the plurality of values affected by WTO decision-making are exposed. The principle of sustainable development links the pursuit of economic, social and environmental interests, notwithstanding their frequent pursuit through specialist legal orders. It requires a balancing of interests; no single pillar takes automatic priority. In addition to carrying global force, through international commitment, these interests manifest themselves and vary according to local culture. Thus the pressures pertaining to the realisation of sustainable development are both top down and ‘bottom-up’. The binding dispute settlement procedure of the WTO means it occupies a unique space in this context, particularly as regards the adjudication of the line to be drawn between economic and non-economic interests. Yet the WTO Institutions reflect the agenda of the WTO, and work within a particular context: they have a limited mandate which is vulnerable to pre-conceptions and assumptions which inevitably impact upon its decision-making.

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ORCID for Emily Reid: orcid.org/0000-0001-5780-6759

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