Abstract
The claim that the World Trade Organization is “undemocratic” starts from a basic fallacy. The WTO is not imposed on countries. Countries choose to belong to the WTO. No one is told to join. No one is forced to sign our agreements. Each and every one of the WTO’s rules is negotiated by Member governments, agreed by consensus, and ratified by parliaments. Countries choose to participate in an open, rules-based multilateral trading system for the simple reason that it is overwhelmingly in their interest to do so. The alternative is a less open, less prosperous, more uncertain world economy—an option few countries would willingly choose. It is difficult to conceive of a system that could be more democratic.
Mike Moore was Director-General of the World Trade Organization from 1999 to 2002. He has served as New Zealand Minister of Overseas Trade and Marketing (1984–1990), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1990), Deputy Minister of Finance (1988–1990) and Prime Minister (1990).
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References
Members make decisions through numerous councils and committees, whose membership consists of all WTO members. Topmost is the ministerial conference, which has to meet at least once every two years. Since 1994, ministers have met in Singapore (1996), Switzerland (1998), the United States (1999), Qatar (2001) and Mexico (2003).
Jeffrey J. Schott, Institute for International Economics, Washington, quoted in WTO, Trading into the Future (April, 1999), at 63.
Claude E. Barfield, Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy 4 (2001).
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Martin Wolf, Uncivil Society: The Ill-Fated Multilateral Agreement on Investment Shows the Need to Confront the Claims of Pressure Groups Hostile to Globalisation, Financial Times, September 1, 1999, at 14.
UNDP, Human Development Report at 2 (1997).
World Democracy Forum (2001).
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Moore, M. (2005). The Democratic Roots of the World Trade Organization. In: Macrory, P.F.J., Appleton, A.E., Plummer, M.G. (eds) The World Trade Organization: Legal, Economic and Political Analysis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22688-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22688-5_3
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