World Trade Organization

To give the expanded rules lasting power, the WTO was established in 1995 to enforce existing trade agreements and serve as a central clearinghouse through which trade relations between countries could be handled. According to the WTO's organizational statement, its objective is to "help trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably. It curre... ntly consists of 135 member nations, which are responsible for more than 90 percent of world trade. Membership brings the huge advantages of relatively unfettered trade in goods, services, technology, and investment capital with other WTO nations. The WTO Secretariat, based in Geneva, now has 500 staffers. Atop the heap is new Director-General Michael Moore, a former overseas trade minister and one-time prime minister of New Zealand. In his six years in power, Moore and his Labor party have successfully eliminated many agricultural subsidies, cut government social spending, deregulated the labor market, and disempowered labor unions. Is the WTO a democratic institution? The organization has always emphasized that its decisions are "democratic," insofar as they are made by the entire membership of nation-states, and usually by consensus. Some developing nations have a seat at the table alongside world powers. But to a great extent, the wealthier countries dominate decision making. The US, for instance, maintains a small army of permanent negotiators in Geneva - something most WTO member nations can't afford. WTO agreements, says Debi Barker, deputy director of the International Forum on Globalization, while eventually ratified by all member countries, are often decided upon by a small group. Citing a Nov. 6 protest letter written to the WTO by 11 member developing countries, Barker says that smaller nations are growing increasingly frustrated at being left out of important negotiation processes altogether. The IFG also argues that developing nations have been strong-armed into ratifying agreements by way of direct or indirect threats regarding IMF loans upon which ...Read More