The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO

Extract

The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO. By John H. Barton, Judith L. Goldstein, Timothy E. Josling, and Richard H. Steinberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 256p. $29.95.

The scope of this book is impressive. Eight chapters detail the history and institutional design of the World Trade Organization and its forebear, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), analyze their successes and failures over nearly 60 years, and outline challenges that the regime must manage to remain politically viable. As the subtitle suggests, the authors examine the politics that have shaped and sustained the trade regime; legal issues, particularly in the settlement of trade disputes; and economics as an underlying factor in the regime's evolution, along with the trade effects of its presence.