In this reissued edition of the classic work Developing Countries in the GATT Legal System, Robert E. Hudec's clear insight on the situation of developing countries within the international trade system is once again made available. Hudec is regarded as one of the most prominent commentators on the evolution of the current international trade regime, and this long out-of-print book offers his analysis of the dynamics playing out between developed and developing nations. A significant contribution when the book was first published, this work continues to serve as a thoughtful and important guide to how current and future trade policy must seriously adapt to the demands of the developing world. This new edition includes a new introduction by J. Michael Finger that examines Hudec's work to understand how the GATT got into its current historical-institutional predicament and the lasting impact of his work on current research on international trade systems.

This volume is a comprehensive account of developing countries and their positioning within the WTO legal system. It comprises chapters by a number of leading experts in the law and economics of international trade who reflect on Robert Hudec's groundbreaking 1987 book Developing Countries in the GATT Legal System, and offers political, economic, and legal perspectives on Hudec's legacy.

The study presents a critical review on the problems stemming from the nature and scope of the WTO remedies, and highlights in a comparative perspective the lacunas and inadequacies in the substantive and procedural aspects of WTO dispute settlement system.

"This book presents a history and analysis of the GATT legal system as it stands today at the beginning of the 1990s. Although the origins of GATT law go back to the GATT/ITO negotiations of 1946-1948 and beyond, the current legal system is largely the product of a reconstruction that took place from 1970 onwards. The book focuses on the evolution of GATT law during this modern period. It concentrates on the development of GATT's procedure for adjudicating legal disputes between member countries, known in GATT parlance as the "dispute settlement procedure". -- from the Preface, p. vii.

How did a treaty that emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War, and barely survived its early years, evolve into one of the most influential organisations in international law? This unique book brings together original contributions from an unprecedented number of eminent current and former GATT and WTO staff members, including many current and former Appellate Body members, to trace the history of law and lawyers in the GATT/WTO and explore how the nature of legal work has evolved over the institution's sixty-year history. In doing so, it paints a fascinating portrait of the development of the rule of law in the multilateral trading system, and allows some of the most important personalities in GATT and WTO history to share their stories and reflect on the WTO's remarkable journey from a 'provisionally applied treaty' to an international organisation defined by its commitment to the rule of law.

Economic development is the most important agenda in the international trading system today, as demonstrated by the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) adopted in the current multilateral trade negotiations of the World Trade Organization (the Doha Round). This book provides a relevant discussion of major international trade law issues from the perspective of development in the following areas: general issues on international trade law and economic development; and specific law and development issues in World Trade Organization, Free Trade Agreement and regional initiatives. This book offers an unparalleled breadth of coverage on the topic and diversity of authorship, as seventeen leading scholars contribute chapters from nine major developed and developing countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, China (including Hong Kong), South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Israel.