Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:42:51.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Should the WTO Launch and Negotiate a Future Round?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

JOHN S. ODELL
JOHN S. ODELL*
Affiliation:
School of International Relations, University of Southern California
*
* Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

If WTO Members wish to launch a new round to follow Doha, setting the agenda will require a complex negotiation as in the past, however Doha ends. To reduce the serious information problems they face and prepare the way, advocates should commission an independent research team to produce a comprehensive negotiation analysis before they decide to move further. Reaching an agreement on an agenda will depend on the procedural rules that apply in the agenda negotiation and the subsequent Round. They should consider four rules that seem legitimate today and most likely to help Members find a joint-gain agenda. Reaching an agenda agreement could also depend in part on decisions by WTO chairs during this negotiation. Experience illustrates the potentials and possible pitfalls for them to avoid.

Type
Review Article
Information
World Trade Review , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 117 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © John S. Odell 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antrim, C. L. and Sebenius, J. K. (1992), ‘Formal Individual Mediation and the Negotiators’ Dilemma: Tommy Koh at the Law of the Sea Conference’, in Bercovitch, J. and Rubin, J. Z. (eds.), Mediation in International Relations: Multiple Approaches to Conflict Management, London: Macmillan, pp. 97–130.Google Scholar
Buzan, B. (1981), ‘Negotiating by Consensus: Developments in Technique at the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea’, American Journal of International Law, 75: 324–348.Google Scholar
Evenett, S. and Jara, A. (eds.) (2013), Building on Bali: A Work Programme for the WTO, A voxEU.org eBook, London: Centre for Economic Policy Research.Google Scholar
Gallagher, P. and Stoler, A. L. (2009), ‘Critical Mass as an Alternative Framework for Multilateral Trade Negotiations’, Global Governance, 15(3): 375–392.Google Scholar
Hoekman, B. M. (2012a), ‘Proposals for WTO Reform: A Synthesis and Assessment’, in Narlikar, A., Daunton, M., and Stern, R. M. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook on the World Trade Organization, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 743–775.Google Scholar
Hoekman, B. M. (2012b), ‘The WTO and the Doha Round: Three Options Looking Forward’, in Mavroidis, P. (ed.), Trade Roundtable, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Global Governance Programme, Policy Paper 2012/06, Florence: European University Institute.Google Scholar
Hoekman, B. M. (2014), Supply Chains, Mega-Regionals and Multilateralism: A Road Map for the WTO, London: CEPR Press.Google Scholar
Hoekman, B. M. and Mavroidis, P. C. (2015), ‘Embracing Diversity: Plurilateral Agreements and the Trading System’, this issue.Google Scholar
Hufbauer, G. C. and Schott, J. (2012), Will the World Trade Organization Enjoy a Bright Future? Policy Brief 12-11, Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Kanitz, R. (2011), Managing Multilateral Trade Negotiations: The Role of the WTO Chairman, London: Cameron May.Google Scholar
Messerlin, P. A. (2012), ‘Keeping the WTO Busy While the Doha Round is Stuck’, VOXEU, www.voxeu.org, 29 July 2012.Google Scholar
Odell, J. S. (2005), ‘Chairing a WTO Negotiation’, Journal of International Economic Law, 8(2): 425–448.Google Scholar
Odell, J. S. (2009), ‘Breaking Deadlocks in International Institutional Negotiations: The WTO, Seattle and Doha’, International Studies Quarterly, 53(2): 273–299.Google Scholar
Odell, J. S. (2010), ‘Negotiating from Weakness in International Trade Relations’, Journal of World Trade, 44(3): 545–566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odell, J. S. (2012), ‘Negotiation and Bargaining’, in Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T., and Simmons, B. A. (eds.), Handbook of International Relations, 2nd edn, Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, pp. 379–400.Google Scholar
Odell, J. S. (2013), A Grand Bargain to Save the WTO from Declining Relevance, Think Piece for the E-15 Initiative, Strengthening the Multilateral Trading System, Geneva: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, and Bern: World Trade Institute.Google Scholar
Rodriguez Mendoza, M. (2012), ‘Toward “Plurilateral Plus” Agreements’, in Ortiz, R. M., Bellmann, C., and Rodriguez Mendoza, M. (eds.), The Future and the WTO: Confronting the Challenges, Geneva: International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development, pp. 27–32.Google Scholar
Schelling, T. C. (1978), Micromotives and Macrobehavior, New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Tallberg, J. (2010), ‘The Power of the Chair: Formal Leadership in International Cooperation’, International Studies Quarterly, 54(1): 241–265.Google Scholar
Warwick Commission (2007), The Multilateral Trade Regime: Which Way Forward? Warwick Commission on Multilateral Trade.Google Scholar
White, S. B. and Neale, M. A. (1991), ‘Reservation Prices, Resistance Points, and BATNAs: Determining the Parameters of Acceptable Negotiated Outcomes’, Negotiation Journal, 7(4): 379–388.Google Scholar
Wolfe, R. (2015), ‘First Diagnose, Then Treat: What Ails the Doha Round?’, World Trade Review, this issue.Google Scholar