Seeking Mutual Understanding. A Discourse Theoretical Analysis of the WTO Dispute Settlement System.

Ceva, Emanuela and Fracasso, Andrea (2009): Seeking Mutual Understanding. A Discourse Theoretical Analysis of the WTO Dispute Settlement System.

Abstract

The Dispute Settlement System (DSS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a mechanism to settle international trade controversies by means of adversarial procedures. In this paper we aim to address the following question: why is the DSS adversarial in kind and articulated through such sophisticated procedures? We shall combine studies in the fields of politics, law and economics through philosophical analysis to look for a systemic answer to this question in the inherent qualities of the procedures through which the DSS is articulated. Specifically, we shall resort to Jürgen Habermas’s discourse theory, as a hermeneutic device to disentangle the different kinds of “action orientations” DS procedures may have (compromise, consensus and understanding). We shall identify the reasons of the specific characterisation given to the DSS in the purposeful connections between its procedural features, the general aims pursued by the WTO and the disputes emerging within it.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: WTO, dispute settlement, discourse theory, trade controversies, mutual understanding
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F53 - International Agreements and Observance ; International Organizations; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F51 - International Conflicts ; Negotiations ; Sanctions

References

Alben, Elissa and Timothy Reif (2006), ‘Homage to a Bull Moose III: striking the correct balance between political governance and judicialization in the WTO’, in Sacerdoti G., Yanovich A. and J. Bohanes (eds.), The WTO at Ten. The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bagwell, Kyle and Robert W. Staiger (2002), The Economics of the World Trading System, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Baldwin, Richard (2008), ‘The WTO tipping point’, VowEU.org, 1 July 2008.

Bello, Judith H. (1996), ‘The WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding: Less is More’, American Journal of International Law, 90, pp. 416-17.

Berger, Johannes (1991), ‘The Linguistification of the Sacred and the Delinguistification of the Economy’, in Honneth A., Joas H. (eds.), Communicative Action, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Brown, Andrew and Robert Stern (2007), ‘Concepts of Fairness in the Global Trading System’, Pacific Economic Review, 12(3), pp. 293-318.

Carmody, Chios (2008), ‘A Theory of WTO Law’, Journal of International Economic Law, 11( 3), pp. 1-31.

Ceva, Emanuela (2007), ‘Plural Values and Heterogeneous Situations. Considerations on the Scope for a Political Theory of Justice’, European Journal of Political Theory, 6 (3), pp. 359-375.

Ceva, Emanuela (2008), Giustizia e conflitti di valori. Una proposta procedurale, Milano: Bruno Mondadori.

Chambers, Simone (1995), ‘Discourse and Democratic Practices’, in White S.K. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Habermas, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chambers, Simone (1996), Reasonable Democracy: Jürgen Habermas and the Politics of Discourse, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

Cohen, Joshua (1994), ‘Pluralism and Proceduralism’. Chicago-Kent Law Review 69, pp. 589–618.

Cottier, Thomas (2006), ‘DSU reform: resolving underlying balance-of-power issues’, in Sacerdoti G., Yanovich A. and J. Bohanes (eds.), The WTO at Ten. The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Davis, Gary (2007), ‘Habermas and “political world society”. A sympathetic critique’, available at http://cohering.net/re/391hpws.html, last accessed: 26/09/2008.

Ethier, Wilfred J. (2004), 'Political Externalities, Nondiscrimination, and a Multilateral World', Review of International Economics, 12 (3), pp. 303–20.

Habermas, Jürgen (1984), The Theory of Communicative Action, Boston: Beacon, vol.1.

Habermas, Jürgen (1990), Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Habermas, Jürgen (1995), Justification and Application, Oxford: Polity Press.

Habermas, Jürgen (1998), On the Pragmatics of Communication, Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Habermas, Jürgen (2003), Truth and Justification, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Habermas, Jürgen (2005), Zwischen Naturalismus und Religion, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

Hampshire, Stuart (1999), Justice is Conflict, London: Duckworth.

Hart, H.L.A. (1994), The Concept of Law, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Horn, Henrik and Petros C. Mavroidis (2006), ‘A Survey of the Literature on the WTO Dispute Settlement System’, IFN Working Paper, 684.

Howse, Robert and Susan Esserman (2006), ‘The Appellate Body, the WTO dispute settlement system, and the politics of multilateralism’, in Sacerdoti G., Yanovich A. and J. Bohanes (eds.), The WTO at Ten. The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hughes, Valerie (2006), ‘The WTO dispute settlement system – from initiating proceedings to ensuring implementation: what needs improvement?’, in Sacerdoti G., Yanovich A. and J. Bohanes (eds.), The WTO at Ten. The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Keck, Alexander and Simon Schropp (2007), ‘Indisputably essential: the economics of dispute settlement institutions in trade agreements’, WTO Staff Working Paper ERSD-2007-02. Krajewski, Markus (2001), ‘Democratic Legitimacy and Constitutional Perspectives of WTO Law’, Journal of World Trade, 35(1), pp. 167-186.

Jackson, John H. (1997a), The World Trading System: Law and Policy of International Economic Relations, 2nd edition, Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Jackson, John H. (1997b), ‘The WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding – Misunderstandings on the Nature of Legal Obligation’, American Journal of International Law, 91, pp. 60-64.

Jackson, John H. (2008), ‘The Case of the World Trade Organization’, International Affairs, 84(3), pp. 437–454.

Maggi, Giovanni and Robert W. Staiger (2008), ‘On the role and design of dispute settlement procedures in international trade agreements’, NBER working paper 14067, June.

Matsushita Mitsuo, Schoenbaum Thomas J and Petros C. Mavroidis (2006), The World Trade Organization: law, practice, and policy, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

McCarthy, Thomas (1992), ‘Practical Discourse: On the Relation of Morality to Politics’, in Calhoun C. (ed.), Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Ortino, Federico and Petersmann Ernst-Ulrich (2004) (eds.), The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System 1995-2003, The Hague: Kluwer Law International.

Palmeter, David (1997) ‘The Need for Due Process in WTO Proceedings’, Journal of World Trade, 45(1), pp. 51–57.

Palmeter, David and Petros C. Mavroidis (2004), Dispute Settlement in the World Trade Origanization, Practice and Procedure, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Panizzon, Marion (2007), ‘Fairness, Promptness and Effectiveness: Creating a Good Faith Standard for WTO Dispute Settlement Procedures’, NCCR Trade Working Papers, No 2007/19, March.

Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich (2004), ‘The Doha development round negotiations on improvements and clarifications of the dispute settlement understanding 2001-2003: an overview’, in Ortino F. and Petersmann E.U. (eds.), The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System 1995-2003, The Hague: Kluwer Law International.

Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich (2005) (ed.), Reforming the World Trading System. Legitimacy, Efficiency and Democratic Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich (2006), From ‘member-driven governance’ to constitutionally limited ‘ multilevel trade governance’, in Sacerdoti G., Yanovich A. and J. Bohanes (eds.), The WTO at Ten. The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rawls, John (1993), Political Liberalism, New York: Columbia University Press.

Rehg, William and James Bohman (2002), ‘Discourse and Democracy: the Formal and Informal Bases of Legitimacy in Between Facts and Norms’, in Von Schomberg, R., Baynes, K. (eds.), Discourse and Democracy. Essays on Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms, Albany: SUNY.

Sacerdoti, Giorgio (2006), ‘The dispute settlement system of the WTO in action: a perspective on the first ten years’, in Sacerdoti G., Yanovich A. and J. Bohanes (eds.), The WTO at Ten. The Contribution of the Dispute Settlement System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Srinivasan, T.N. (2007), ‘The Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the WTO: A Brief History and an Evaluation from Economic, Contractarian and Legal Perspectives’, The World Economy, 30(7), pp. 1033-1067.

Schwartz, Warren F. and Alan O. Sykes (2002), 'The Economic Structure of Renegotiation and Dispute Resolution in the WTO/GATT System', Journal of Legal Studies, 31(1), pp. 179–204.

Targetti, Ferdinando and Andrea Fracasso (2008), Le sfide della globalizzazione. Storia, politiche e istituzioni, Milano: Brioschi Editore.

Thomas, Jeffrey C. (1997), ‘The Need for Due Process in WTO Proceedings’, Journal of World Trade, 45(1), pp. 45–49.

WTO (2007), World Trade Report 2007, Geneva: World Trade Organisation.