Reglobalizing trade: progressive global governance in an age of uncertainty

ABSTRACT

In this article we explore what a programme of ‘reglobalization’ could look like for the governance of global trade. Our focus is on the centrepiece of the current commercial order, the World Trade Organization (WTO). Our aim is to illustrate the potential value of a reformulated WTO not just for commercial relations globally but also for other areas of social concern. We seek to be both practical and challenging. We seek to be practical by establishing what a programme of WTO reform might look like in the near-to-medium term, including changes to the negotiating process and opening up the WTO to non-state actors. We seek to be challenging by setting the transformation of global trade governance within the context of a thorough process of reglobalization wherein the primary public mechanisms of global governance are reoriented towards the delivery of progressive social and environmental outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Trade
• WTO reform
• reglobalization
• deglobalization
• global governance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This was partly facilitated by the unique circumstances offered by the creation of the WTO. The most powerful countries made it clear that they would pull out of the GATT as soon as the WTO was created (Finger & Nogués, 2002), leaving developing countries with the choice of either being left out of multilateral trade rules or signing up to the WTO.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James Scott

James Scott is Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London, UK.

Rorden Wilkinson

Rorden Wilkinson is Professor of International Political Economy and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and the Student Experience at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.