Structural issues at the World Trade Organisation

Abstract

If the Bali package cannot be saved, the WTO membership will be confronted even more starkly with the question as to whether new multilateral rule-making is still desired; and if so, looking forward, what the lessons are from the Doha experience for cooperation in the WTO. This question motivates the articles included in this Symposium issue, which focus on the ‘legislative pillar’ of the WTO, as opposed to analysis of specific policies that create international spillovers, or of the successful elements of the current WTO architecture such as its dispute settlement and transparency functions. The articles assess what research suggests regarding the reasons for the failure of the DDA and the design of modalities for negotiating new multilateral rules of the game for policies that affect international production and trade in goods and services.