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ENHANCING THE LEGITIMACY OF THE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM

The project on Enhancing the Legitimacy of the World Trading System was initiated and is run by Dr. Sylvia Ostry, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. The project is sustained by funding from the Peter Munk Foundation, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council's Major Collaborative Research Initiatives programme.

The current round of WTO negotiations will be conducted in the context of uncertainties about public support both of the process and of the underlying project. The long-term stability of the rule-based world trading system is dependent on its ability to mobilize broad-based support. In order to maintain such support, it will be necessary to generate and sustain meaningful dialogue and consultation - not only between government officials, but also involving civil society stakeholders.

This research programme integrates three related projects, located at different levels of analysis: civil society, the state, and the international organization. Together, the attempt is to understand the actual and alleged shortcomings of the trading system, and to propose concrete policy options for a more inclusive structure and process.

NGOs and Advocacy
Though advocacy NGOs or 'global civil society' remain a highly fractious phenomenon, it is clear that policy-makers will ignore them at their peril; the NGOs have mounted a sustained attack on the legitimacy of the trading system, at least in its current form. This project examines the organization of civil society opposition to what is portrayed as 'corporate' or neo-liberal modalities of globalization. Before 'civil society' can effectively be integrated into and given 'voice' in the policy environment, it is necessary to understand the movement's key organizing principles.

Comparative Studies of Participation in Trade-Policy Formation
The consultative process in state-level trade policy formation offers one potential avenue for the incorporation of civil society voices in the trading system. Specifically, this project focuses on the question of how best to accommodate the participation of non-state actors in the formulation of national trade policies and negotiating agendas. Through collaboration with the Inter-American Dialogue and the Inter-American Development Bank, country studies have been completed for eight countries in the Americas ("The Trade Policy-Making Process: Level One of the Two Level Game," INTAL - ITD - STA Occasional Paper 13, 2002). Planning is currently underway to replicate this process in key European states. Discussions with government officials and stakeholders will be held in national capitals to explore the options for more inclusive policy-making.

WTO Reform
Given the lack of policy formation capacity in developing countries, and the extremely stringent WTO dispute resolution provisions, attention to state level consultative processes will likely be an insufficient response to the legitimacy crisis facing the trading system. Accordingly, this project seeks to develop policy options to address civil society concerns about WTO process and structure. It is built on the growing consensus, among not only legal and policy-analytic communities but also in a number of inter-governmental institutions, that participatory processes improve policy outcomes, and enhance the legitimacy of policy as well as the compliance with norms and laws.

RECENT SPEECHES & ARTICLES

1998 (PDF Files 3.0)

• "CHINA AND THE WTO: THE TRANSPARENCY ISSUE" by Sylvia Ostry, 1998, UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs.
• "REINFORCING THE WTO" by Sylvia Ostry, 1998 Occasional Paper 56, Group of Thirty.
• "GLOBALISATION AND THE NATION STATE: EROSION FROM ABOVE" by Sylvia Ostry, Timlin Lecture, University of Saskatchewan, February 1998
• "APEC AND REGIME CREATION IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC: THE OECD MODEL?"by Sylvia Ostry, Asia-Pacific Crossroads: Regime Creation and the Future of APEC, Vinod K. Aggarawal and Charles E. Morrison (eds.), St. Martin's Press, New York, 1998.
• "Technology, Productivity and the Multinational Enterprise" by Sylvia Ostry, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 29, No.1 (1st Quarter), 1998.

1999 (PDF Files 3.0)

• "THE DEEPENING INTEGRATION OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY" by Sylvia Ostry, Havana, Cuba, January 1999
• "GLOBALISATION AND SOVEREIGNTY" by Sylvia Ostry, J.R. Mallory Annual Lecture, McGill University, March 9, 1999
• "COHERENCE IN GLOBAL POLICY-MAKING: IS THIS POSSIBLE?" by Sylvia Ostry, Asia and the Future of the World Economic System, Chatham House, London, March 17, 1999
• "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION IN THE WTO: MAJOR ISSUES IN THE MILLENIUM ROUND" by Sylvia Ostry, Santiago, Chile,  April 19, 1999
• "GLOBALIZATION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?" by Sylvia Ostry, G-78 Annual Conference, Econiche House, Ottawa, October, 1999
• "THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM" by Sylvia Ostry, The 47th Annual Economic Outlook Conference, University of Michigan, November 19, 1999.
• "THE CHANGING SCENARIO IN INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE" by Sylvia Ostry, Royal Society of Canada, Ottawa, November 20, 1999.
• "FUTURE OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION" by Sylvia Ostry, Brookings Trade Forum 1999, Susan M. Collins and Robert Z. Lawrence (eds.), Brookings Institution Press, Washington D.C. ,1999.
• "Globalization Implication for Industrial Relations" by Sylvia Ostry, Frieder Myer-Kramer (ed.), Globalisation of R & D and Technology Markets, Heidelberg-New York, 1999.

2000

• "THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM,",  Oxford Handbook of International Business, Oxford University Press.
• "WTO: INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN FOR BETTER GOVERNANCE," Efficiency, Equity and Legitimacy: The Multilateral Trading System at the Millennium,  J. F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, June, 2000.
• "THE URUGUAY ROUND NORTH-SOUTH GRAND BARGAIN: IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE NEGOTIATIONS,"The Political Economy of International Trade Law, University of Minnesota, September, 2000
• "Convergence and Sovereignty: policy scope for compromise?"in Coping with Globalization, Aseem Prakash and Jeffrey A. Hart (eds.), Routledge, New York, 2000
• "Regional Dominos and the WTO: Building Blocks or Boomerang?", in Building a Partnership, The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, Mordechai Kreinin (ed.), Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, University of Calgary Press, Calgary, 2000
• "The Changing Scenario in International Governance", in Governance in the 21st Century, David M. Hayne, FRSC, (ed.), University of Toronto Press, 2000
• "Looking Back to Look Forward: The Multilateral Trading System after 50 years" in From GATT To The WTO: The Multilateral Trading System in the New Millennium, The WTO Secretariat, 2000

2001

• "THE WTO AFTER SEATTLE:  SOMETHING'S HAPPENING HERE, WHAT IT IS AIN'T EXACTLY CLEAR," American Economic Association, New Orleans, January 2001.
• "GLOBAL INTEGRATION: CURRENTS AND COUNTER-CURRENTS," Walter Gordon Lecture, Massey College, University of Toronto, May 2001.
• "The Question of Q's: What Cue Should Quebec Send Qatar?" in Regional Trade Dialogue, Inter American Development Bank, Washington, D.C., May 2001
• "THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD TRADE SYSTEM," 50th Anniversary Symposium of the Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, Berlin, October 2001.
• "WHY HAS GLOBALIZATION BECOME A BAD WORD," Alcoa-Intalco Works Distinguished Lecture, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA, October 2001.
• "The WTO and International Governance", in The World Trade Organization Millenium Round, Klaus Gunter Deutsh and Bernhard Speyer (eds.), Routledge, 2001

2002

• "DOHA AND AFTER" From Doha to Kananaskis Conference, York University and University of Toronto, Toronto ON, March 2002.
• "GLOBALIZATION AND THE G8: COULD KANANASKIS SET A NEW DIRECTION?" O.D. Skelton Memorial Lecture, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Presented at Queen's University, Kingston ON. March 2002.
• "THE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM: IN DIRE NEED OF REFORM" Canadians in Europe Conference, April 2002.
• "WHAT ARE THE NECESSARY INGREDIENTS FOR THE WORLD TRADING ORDER?" Kiel Week Conference, "Global Governance - An Architecture for the World Economy," Kiel, Germany, 24-26 June 2002.
• "Fix it or Nix it? Will the NAFTA Model Survive?", in Linking Trade, Environment and Social Cohesion, John J. Kirton and Virginia W. Maclaren (eds.), University of Toronto, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2002.
• "Perspectives on the Evolution of the Global Trading System", in Money, Markets, and Mobility: Celebrating the Ideas of Robert A. Mundell, Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, Thomas J. Courchene (ed.), John Deutch institute for the Study of Economic Policy, Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2002.

2003

• "Civil Society: Consultation in Negotiations and Implementation of Trade Liberalization and Integrated Agreements: An Overview of the Issues," Good Practices in Social Inclusion: A Dialogue between Europe and LAC, Inter-American Development Bank, Italy, March 22, 2003.
• "Participation in Policy-Making: A Pilot Project", Establishing Consultation Mechanisms with Civil Society in Integration and Trade Initiatives, Inter-American Development Bank in affiliation with the Comunidad Andina, Peru, July 1-2, 2003.
• "Cancun: Can Can't? Can do? " Building the Americas Conference, Center for International Studies and Globalization, Montreal QC, November 5-7, 2003
• "Article X and the Concept of Transparency in the GATT/WTO" in China and hte Long march to Gloabl Trade, Sylvia Ostry, Alan S. Alexandroff, and Rafael Gomez (eds.), Routledge, 2003
• "WTO Membership for China: To Be or Not to Be: Is That the Answer?" in China and the World Trading System: Entering the New Millenium, Deborah Z. Cass, Brett Gerard Williams and George Barker (eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2003.

2004

• "The World Trading System: In the Fog of Uncertainty" Lehigh University, April 2004. Forthcoming in Review of International Organizations, 2006.
• "External Transparency in Trade Policy", Occasional Paper 68, Group of Thirty, Washington, 2004.
• "Canada in a Changing Trade Environment" Statistics Canada Economics Conference, June 2004.
• "External Transparency: The Policy Process at the national Level of the Two-level Game", in Doha and Beyond: The Future of the Multilateral Trading System, Mike Moore 9ed.), Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• "Between Feast and Famine: Fixing Global Trade." in Feeding the Future from Fat to Famine: How to Solve the World's Food Crisis. Andrew Heintzman, Evan Solomon (eds), House of Anansi Press, Toronto: 2004.

2005

• "Summitry and Trade: What Sea Islands Could Do for Doha", in New Perspectives on Global Governance: Why America Needs the G8. Michel Fratianni, John J. Kirton, Alan M. Rugman, Paulo Savona (eds.), Ashgate Publishing Limited, Aldershot, 2005.
  

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr Sylvia Ostry,
Distingushed Research Fellow and
China/WTO Project Chair
Centre for International Studies
Munk Centre for International Studies
1 Devonshire Place, Room 361S
Toronto Ontario, CA M5S 3K7
Tel: (416) 946-8927;
fax: (416) 946-8915.
e-mail: sylvia.ostry@utoronto.ca

 

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