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Joseph, Sarah --- "Democratic Deficit, Participation and the WTO" [2009] ELECD 554; in Joseph, Sarah; Kinley, David; Waincymer, Jeff (eds), "The World Trade Organization and Human Rights" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: The World Trade Organization and Human Rights

Editor(s): Joseph, Sarah; Kinley, David; Waincymer, Jeff

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847206619

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Democratic Deficit, Participation and the WTO

Author(s): Joseph, Sarah

Number of pages: 32

Extract:

12. Democratic deficit, participation and
the WTO
Sarah Joseph
This chapter will analyse arguments that the World Trade Organization
(`WTO') suffers from a `democratic deficit', which casts doubt on the legiti-
macy and desirability of its rules and policies. First, this chapter outlines the
two strands of this accusation of `democratic deficit'. That is:

1. That the WTO unduly undermines the regulatory capacity of States, and
2. That democratic deficiencies exist within WTO internal processes, such as
negotiations and dispute settlements.

Secondly, I examine the relevance to this issue of international human
rights law, particularly the right of political participation in Article 25 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 (`ICCPR').1
Thirdly, many of the alleged democratic deficits of and within the WTO afflict
other international regimes. In this regard, a comparison between the WTO
regime and the international human rights regime is undertaken in order to
identify whether democratic deficiencies within the WTO are of greater
concern than the general democratic deficiencies that exist at the international
level of governance. Fourthly, potential limits to the WTO's mandate, which
might strike a more appropriate balance between national regulatory powers
and international rules in light of democratic deficiencies in WTO internal
processes, are discussed. The fifth section concludes this chapter.


1. THE TWO COMPONENTS TO THE
WTO/DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT ARGUMENT
There are generally two strands to the `democratic deficit' arguments. First,


1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 16
December 1966, 999 ...