Effective Global Economic Governance by the World Trade Organisation

The World Trade Organization ('WTO') is the principal international institution for the management and regulation of the process of economic globalization. Its effectiveness in fulfilling this important task, however, leaves much to be desired. On 4 and 5 February 2005, the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University organized an international research conference entitled 'In Search of Effective Global Economic Governance: The Case of the World Trade Organization'. This conference brought together academics, WTO officials, government diplomats, national trade officials, representatives of business associations and NGOs to discuss a wide range of issues, including: possible improvements to and alternatives for consensus decision-making in the WTO; issues of transparency, democratic legitimacy and the participation of civil society in WTO decision-making; secondary law-making by WTO bodies; and an expanded role for the WTO Secretariat. It is important that legal and political science scholars focus their research efforts on the reforms needed to transform the WTO into an instrument of effective global economic governance. The main objective of the conference was, therefore, to define a comprehensive agenda for research into the institutional reform of the WTO. This article is, above all, a report of the conference and summarizes the main arguments made by the participants.