The processes of legal and economic integration at a regional and global scale have created powerful legal and economic dilemmas. They challenge the paradigms of constitutionalism,including the State's monopoly of constitutionalism, the autonomy of national political communities and the traditional forms of participation and representation. The phenomena of globalisation and regional forms of governance have promoted the inter-dependence of national political communities and destroyed the artificial boundaries upon which national constitutional democracies are found and from which they derive their legitimacy. Furthermore, it is inevitable that the development of international trade and economic integration will raise claims for some form of global distributive justice to complement the wealth maximisation arising from free trade. This will come from the gradual development of global forms of political discourse and law–making, challenging State constitutionalism and requiring some of the instruments and theories of constitutionalism. The essays in this collection, written by leading scholars in international trade law, argue the pros and cons of greater regional and global regulation. They conclude that whatever the final framework for international trade, the critical decisions about institutional form and content will be decided in an emerging global political arena. They help to identify this political arena, who governs it, and according to which rules, and identify the different institutional alternatives in that global political arena.

The Regulation of International Trade 2nd Edition introduces the rules and institutions that govern international trade. The authors base their analysis on aspects of the subject from classic and contemporary literature on trade and political economy. This new edition has been fully updated to take account of the most recent developments in International Trade. New issues covered include: trade and competition trade and labour rights the Multilateral Agreement on Investment the Basic Telecoms and Financial Services WTO Agreements an analysis of the first three years of WTO dispute rulings, including those of Appelate Body. Drawing on the success of the earlier edition, this comprehensive and up to date text will be an invaluable guide to students of economics, law, politics and international relations.

For a long time, the GATT led a life of its own as a self-contained regime. The evolution from tariff to non-tariff barriers brought about increasing overlaps with other regulatory areas. WTO rules increasingly interface with other areas of law and policy, including environmental protection, agricultural policies, labour standards, investment, human rights and regional integration. Against this backdrop, this book examines fragmentation in international trade regulation across a wide array of regulatory fields. To this end, it uses a conceptually coherent theoretical framework which is based on the effort to bring about greater coherence among different policy goals and fields, and thus to embed the multilateral trading system within the broader framework of international economics, law and relations. It will appeal to those interested in a forward-looking discussion of the most pressing issues of the international trade agenda.

Introduces the rules and institutions that govern international trade. This new edition has been fully up-dated to take account of the most recent developments.

This book describes the rules governing regional trade agreements, providing new insights into the interplay between regional and multilateral trade rules.

The international trade regulatory system is a dynamic system that has been evolving throughout its history. Tension and conflict are part of the system. While calls for the abolition of the principal trade regulation authority, the WTO, have failed to understand this nature of the system, proponents for reforms have so far not paid sufficient attention to the evolving nature of tension and conflict. This book examines the evolving dynamics in international trade regulation from the conclusion of GATT in 1947 to the current crisis facing the WTO, from a perspective of emerging powers of developing countries with a focus of China as the latest force that demands reforms of the international trade regulatory regime. There is an extensive body of scholarship on ideological struggles, the rise of developing countries, geopolitical contest, the emerging powers (especially China), the use, misuse or abuse of trading rules and so on. There is, however, a lack of a single concise research book that synthesises these underlying causes and factors into a coherent and precise analytical theme. This book attempts to fill this research gap by building upon the existing scholarship and placing the various tensions and conflicts in a perspective that treats them as dynamic factors that have propelled a continuing process of evolution of the international trade regulation. The book will interest those researching on international trade regulation as well as development studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

The processes of legal and economic integration at a regional and global scale have created powerful legal and economic dilemmas. They challenge the paradigms of constitutionalism,including the State's monopoly of constitutionalism, the autonomy of national political communities and the traditional forms of participation and representation. The phenomena of globalisation and regional forms of governance have promoted the inter-dependence of national political communities and destroyed the artificial boundaries upon which national constitutional democracies are found and from which they derive their legitimacy. Furthermore, it is inevitable that the development of international trade and economic integration will raise claims for some form of global distributive justice to complement the wealth maximisation arising from free trade. This will come from the gradual development of global forms of political discourse and law–making, challenging State constitutionalism and requiring some of the instruments and theories of constitutionalism. The essays in this collection, written by leading scholars in international trade law, argue the pros and cons of greater regional and global regulation. They conclude that whatever the final framework for international trade, the critical decisions about institutional form and content will be decided in an emerging global political arena. They help to identify this political arena, who governs it, and according to which rules, and identify the different institutional alternatives in that global political arena.