Posts tagged…Multilateralism
Multilateralism not a ‘single undertaking’
Wed, Jan 06 2010More commentary—this time from the President of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations—on the significance of the Copenhagen meeting as one of the first signs of whatever-it-turns-out-to-be that follows the pax atlantica
"Multilateralism in the 21st century is, like the century itself, likely to be more fluid and, at times, messy than what we are used to." Extract from Richard Haass in the Cheering for ‘democracy’ Tue, Jan 05 2010
Rachman—who's normally pretty astute—assesses the emblematic events in Copenhagen as a blow to the U.S. program of 'spreading democracy'.
"As emerging global powers and developing nations, Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey may often feel they have more in common with a rising China than with the democratic US." Extract from Gideon Rachman in the Financial TimesAlthough I share his sense…
Global governance in the aughties
Sun, Dec 27 2009
First, bodice-ripping as political theory
"We live in an era in which unprecedented globalization and economic interdependence, liberal-democratic hegemony, nanotechnology, robotic warfare, the 'infosphere,' nuclear proliferation and geoengineering solutions to climate change coexist with the return of powerful autocratic-capitalist states, of a new Great Game in Central Asia, of imperialism in…Plurilateralism… get used to it
Sun, Dec 20 2009
Unless you've been asleep since the mid-1930s (when the League of Nations fell apart), the failures of the UN Climate Convention in Copenhagen or the World Trade Organization in Geneva to reach agreement should come as no surprise.
It's not the end of the world (or even of multilateralism) but it's an historic moment, all the same. I suspect it marks the iconic end of the pax atlantica; the…
India says ‘no’
Wed, Apr 15 2009
Even IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri considers India is 'very unlikely' to change its opposition to emissions targets (for India).
"'If the question is whether India will take on binding emission reduction commitments, the answer is no. It is morally wrong for us to agree to reduce when 40 percent of Indians do not have access to electricity,' said a member of the Indian delegation to the…Summary of the copyright trade agreement
Wed, Apr 08 2009
The participants in the proposed Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)—one of the few plurilateral (non-regional) trade agreements ever negotiated outside the multilateral trade framework of GATT and WTO—have lifted the veil of secrecy surrounding their negotiations just a little by publishing a "Summary of key elements under discussion".
Although apparently intended to calm civil-liberties…
A WTO ‘code’ on carbon tariffs
Thu, Apr 02 2009
Gary Hufbauer, Steve Charnovitz and Jisun Kim from the Peterson Institute have produced a small book that recommends a way to deal with the vexing—but probably inevitable— conflict between future UNEP obligations to control GHG emissions and WTO provisions on keeping markets free from regulatory distortions at, and behind, the border for goods and services.
The book helpfully and accurately…
Trade agreements and trade policy
Tue, Feb 03 2009
Yesterday, I noted that for all the changes that have taken place in the trading system since the world last faced such a dramatic downturn in trade and production, there remains one question now that is more or less the same as the questions posed in the 1930s:"… will trade agreements help to forestall these policy mistakes and encourage collaborative solutions? Or does our experience of the…The world is not flat
Sat, Nov 29 2008
The World Development Report 2009 is a wonderful excursion through economic geography: with some interesting background papers too (like this from Marius Brulhart on trends in intra-industry trade since 1960)
Why ‘Bretton Woods’ bis won’t happen
Tue, Nov 11 2008
Although global regime management has become multipolar, multilateral collaboration has a woeful recent record."In fact, the emerging multilateral, multipolar world – long called for by those uncomfortable with American power – shows every sign of being highly dysfunctional." Gideon Rachman at the FTNext steps for agriculture agreements
Wed, Aug 13 2008
The WTO's Doha Round of trade negotiations did not 'collapse'; they failed. The failure was not caused by the disagreement over the Special Safeguard Mechanism. The poor quality of the proposed agreements reflected much deeper problems that might also have caused the collapse of consensus. The Doha enterprise had priorities that were no longer aligned with the commercial realities of world…
The collapse of the Doha Round negotiations
Wed, Jul 30 2008
There's no joy in having predicted this outcome.
As explained (at some length) in my earlier post, I don't believe that the draft agreement on the table represented anything like the 'substantial improvement' in global markets that was the goal of the Doha Declaration that launched the talks in 2001. There were too many status exceptions, category exceptions, and opportunities for manipulation.…
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