The World Trade Organization: A Legal and Institutional Analysis

Citation

McLaverty, P. (2009), "The World Trade Organization: A Legal and Institutional Analysis", Journal of International Trade Law and Policy, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 95-95. https://doi.org/10.1108/14770020910910959637

This book gives a comprehensive overview of the history, agreements, principles, and structure of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In separate chapters, it moves from the establishment of the GATT after World War II through its replacement by the WTO in the mid‐1990s. The bulk of the book is devoted to a detailed consideration of the principles and agreements underpinning the WTO, together with its institutional framework.

Any student, practitioner or academic wanting to get detailed knowledge of what the WTO stands for, the agreements that impact on its workings and the institutional arrangements of the organisation will almost certainly find it in this work. The book is clearly written and divided into clear sections which aid reading. The select bibliography points any reader wanting to follow‐up a particular area of the WTO's organisation, practice or principles towards published works that will surely provide the material sought. As a teaching aid, the book should prove invaluable. Similarly, as an introductory text for students, the paper should do an excellent job.

The only question I would raise about the scope of the book, concerns the lack of political analysis in the work. As an international governmental organisation, the WTO is an intensely political organisation. The creation of the GATT and its replacement by the WTO, the principles and structure of the WTO, why some countries have found it extremely difficult to become members of the WTO (such as Russia), cannot be fully understood without taking political considerations into account. How the WTO has operated since its creation, the difficulty the organisation has had in reaching agreements (especially in the current Doha Round where negotiations have stalled) all need to be placed within a political context. For all its other virtues, which are many, this book does not provide a political context for understanding the WTO; neither does it consider in detail the political relationships between the nation‐states and other organisations (such as the European Union) that comprise the WTO and are the main decision makers in the organisation.

In all other respects, this is an excellent book and I am sure it will serve a very useful purpose.