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Prospects for Constitutionalization of the WTO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

DOUGLAS R. NELSON*
Affiliation:
Murphy Institute and Department of Economics Tulane University

Abstract

This paper seeks to evaluate the prospects for constitutional reform of the WTO by drawing on the broader literature on constitutionalization. In particular, it argues that constitutionalization implies a coherent civil society, linked to the constitutionalized entity via democratic politics. While there may be an emergent global civil society around international trade, there is no framework for democratic politics. Thus, constitutional reform seems problematic.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Douglas R. Nelson 2014 

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