Reforming the WTO: Toward More Democratic
Governance and Decision-Making
Saif Al-Islam Alqadhafi
Gaddafi Foundation for Development
EL Fatah Tower - 5th Floor – No. 57
PO Box: 1101
Tripoli, Libya
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§ I: Introduction
This paper takes a critical approach to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
proposes a radical solution involving more direct involvement of civil society and the
private sector in WTO governing structures. Jan Aart Scholte has suggested that critics of
the WTO fall broadly into one of three categories: ‘radicals’, who believe the institution
is failing to the degree that it ought to be abolished; ‘reformers’, who are still in favor of
maintaining the WTO but believe it is in need of serious re-thinking; and ‘conformers’,
who believe the current trading system and WTO need only minor adjustments.1 This
paper is written from a reformist viewpoint. Although current political realities,
especially the recent collapse of the Doha Development Round of Trade Negotiations,
may seem to provide growing evidence to support the radicals’ argument, this paper
suggests a means by which we might improve the WTO’s deficiencies while still
preserving what exists and functions well at the WTO.
Criticisms of the WTO, within any of the three categories introduced above, can be
divided further into two subject categories: criticisms of the underlying economic theory
of the institution, and criticisms of the way in which the institution is run, regardless of
the economic debate surrounding the issue of free trade. This paper does not examine the
economic foundations of the WTO. It does not delve into the question of whether trade
liberalization is the best means of achieving higher standards of livi ...