Regional trade agreements (RTAs) have proliferated around the world in the past two decades, and now nearly all members of the WTO are party to at least one. Besides tariffs and rules of origin regulating trade in goods, many RTAs now include provisions on services, investments, technical barriers to trade and competition rules, as well as a host of issues not directly related to trade. The geographic reach of RTAs is expanding, with transcontinental agreements spreading forcefully alongside intra-regional agreements. 'Multilateralizing Regionalism' was the title of a major conference held from 10–12 September 2007 at the WTO in Geneva. Brought together in this publication, the conference papers achieve two things. First, they marshall detailed, new empirical work on the nature of the 'Spaghetti Bowl' and the problems it poses for the multilateral trade system. Second, they contribute fresh and creative thinking on how to 'tame the tangle' of regional trade agreements.

A collection of revised papers from the 'Multilateralizing Regionalism' conference, held at the WTO in September 2007.

This book discusses the impact of cultural diversities and identities on regional and interregional cooperation, as well as on multilateralism. Employing a comparative approach to organizations such as ASEAN, MERCOSUR, SAARC, and the African and European Unions, this volume seeks to understand their distinctive features and patterns of interaction. It also explores the diffusion of multidimensional interregional relations, including but not limited to the field of trade. Scholars from several disciplines and four continents offer insights concerning the consequences of both multiple modernities and the rise of authoritarian populism for regionalism, interregionalism, and multilateralism. The Covid-19 pandemic confirmed the decline of hegemonic multilateralism. Among alternative possible scenarios for global governance, the "new multilateralism" receives special attention. This book will be of key interest to European/EU studies, economics, history, cultural studies, international relations, international political economy, security studies, and international law.

This volume contains a collection of studies examining trade-related issues negotiated in regional trade agreements (RTAs) and how RTAs are related to the WTO's rules. While previous work has focused on subsets of RTAs, these studies are based on what is probably the largest dataset used to date, and highlight key issues that have been negotiated in all RTAs notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). New rules within RTAs are compared to rules agreed upon by WTO members. The extent of their divergences and the potential implications for parties to RTAs, as well as for WTO members that are not parties to RTAs, are examined. This volume makes an important contribution to the current debate on the role of the WTO in regulating international trade and how WTO rules relate to new rules being developed by RTAs.

It is an appropriate time to rethink the relationship between trade regionalism and multilateralism in the Asian context as we witness the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia. In the 1980s and 1990s, many scholars and policymakers believed that Asian integration was market-based, rather than legal-based, and that Asian integration would never be codified through agreements. Yet today, there are a large number of FTAs signed and under negotiation in Asia.This book investigates the appropriate relationship between regionalism and multilateralism, with a special reference to recent FTAs in Asia. It is undeniable that past trade multilateralism-regionalism debates centered on the trade-in-goods aspect. However, the majority of recent FTAs in Asia cover issues beyond trade-in-goods and tariff liberalization, such as trade facilitation, services, and economic cooperation. While the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article XXIV governs regional integration initiatives in trade in goods, there is no (or at most a thin) World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement that stipulates the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism in issue areas other than goods.Thus, this study carefully considers the meaning of “WTO-compatible FTAs” by distinguishing “WTO consistency” and “WTO friendliness”, going beyond GATT Article XXIV debates and proposes a general framework for examining the openness of regionalism in various issue areas by identifying tree-type questions to distinguish several types of exclusiveness. It then specifically asks the following questions: Can Asian FTAs that cover several issues be considered multilateralism friendly? How does the relationship between regionalism and multilateralism differ between trade-in-goods and non-goods issue areas? What are policies that might reduce the exclusiveness of regional initiatives? The study concludes by listing counterintuitive policy suggestions to make FTAs truly WTO compatible. The book also includes a comprehensive list of FTAs in Asia and several WTO Agreements relating to trade regionalism.

Reconciling regionalism and multilateralism is a challenge common to all branches of global economic governance. While the Bretton Woods/GATT (WTO) institutions, decades-old multilateral framework for global economic governance, are facing serious challenges to their effectiveness, regional framework are emerging as complementary or alternative means of global economic governance. The real challenge is how to reconcile multilateralism and regionalism in global economic governance. This book tackles this problem by analysing issues of multilateral/regional conciliation and coordination in global economic governance, focusing on Asia. Chapters of the book deal with challenges of multilateralism and regionalism in three fields of global economic governance, namely, global monetary/financial governance, global trade governance, and global investment governance. The major regional focus is on Asia, though some chapters deal with regionalism in Europe and North America. Topics include Asian Monetary Fund and Asian financial architecture, open accession provisions of regional trade agreements, and APEC’s role in multilateral investment rules. As a whole, the book elucidates the contemporary reach of Asian regionalism in global economic governance, and shows the neat balance between regionalism and multilateralism in global economic governance. It is of particular use to the students and practitioners of international economic law, international political economy, international finance and international economics, both with and without Asian focus.

'Dent and Dosch have put together a superb volume that explores new dimensions of the world events for the past five decades and take decrypting the processes of regionalism, global system, and world society to a new height. The contributors have enhanced our understanding of how regionalism has been changing, when a world society will be created, and why East Asia's centrality matters in this unfolding drama. Policymakers, academics, and mass media opinion makers will find the book useful, provocative, and refreshing.' – Eul-Soo Pang, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore Ever since the Asia-Pacific transformed from an 'institutional desert' into one of the most networked areas in the world, questions of the region's future and the future of the global system have become closely intertwined. This volume explores the key issues of regional co-operation, economic and political integration, security relations and international affairs within and across the Asia-Pacific. The expert contributors shed critical light on how significant developments are impacting on the global system. In particular, they consider emerging forms of global governance, and how the Asia-Pacific as a region, individual countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and the US, and regional organisations and forums like APEC are shaping the world. Uniquely, the discussion is not limited to East Asia but also takes Latin America prominently into the equation. This timely book will prove to be a stimulating read for academics, students, researchers and policymakers with an interest in Asian studies, development and agriculture, economics, international studies.