Private rights vs public standards in the WTO.

Picciotto, Salomone (2003) Private rights vs public standards in the WTO. Review of International Political Economy, 10 (3). pp. 377-405. ISSN 0969-2290

Abstract

The WTO is a central node of the re-regulation of the global economy. The priority it gives to liberalization makes it inappropriate for further `constitutionalization', as some have argued, since this would further entrench a neo-liberal form of regulation. A better balance between the market-opening obligations of the WTO and national and international regulatory standards requires more deference by the WTO to the appropriate roles of other bodies, as well as to national states, for example by applying the `margin of appreciation' principle.