De WTO als voorbeeld. Over de statencoöperatie en wereldwijde patronen van dominantie en wederkerigheid

Samenvatting

'The WTO as Example': On the States' Cooperative and Global Patterns of Dominance and Reciprocity. The relative success of the WTO raises the question of why ever more states are cooperating and solving together the dilemma of collective action. The most important condition was the dominance of the US, militarily and economically, during the first four decades after 1945. However, its economic dominance decreased and reciprocity increased as the basis of the world market, especially after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, with the formation of the WTO itself in 1994 and the recent entrance of the People's Republic of China and the application for membership by Russia. The progress of the WTO is not undisputed. The US and the EU are challenging common agreements and obstructing ongoing negotiations. At the same time, nongovernmental organizations are doing the same, with an opposing interest. They attack economic liberalization on behalf of the poor and less developed, just as the so-called neoliberals propagate this form of negative cooperation as a common good for all. Both viewpoints are one-sided. The question is not either large scale liberalization or small-scale protection, but a judicious mix of positive and negative cooperation that fosters trade and controls its harmful effects for the mankind as a whole and its environment. The actual development of the WTO seems to go in that direction. Adapted from the source document.