Against the WTO and A New World Order

   

             Does the world need an international body that constantly reacts to changes in the global economic system?  In “The Evolution of a Trade Regime” the authors argue that very point and with historical evidence show the ‘evolution’ of the organization as a whole.  In what the book commonly refers to as the WTO/GATT the authors engage in a detailed analysis of the widening scope of that international body.  While they argue this is necessary and should continue, I don’t believe this to be the case.  Sovereignty is not something the world is ready to do away with and pointedly shouldn’t do away with. 

            National governments are given the responsibility to look after and protect their citizens.  Constantly allowing more and more regulatory power to flow from nations to international organizations is cause for alarm.  The authors give plenty of examples of the WTO ability to now reach ‘behind the borders’ and force governments to accept international law.  At what point do the citizens of a country stand up and ask their politicians to stop selling their national identity down the river and start looking after them. 

            To argue for more power to be delegated to the WTO, The Director-General, and the Secretariat is absurd if you value freedom.  Consolidation of power is never a good idea when there is no other mechanism to fight against it.  The optimal idea at present is to pursue PTA’s and FTA’s in an attempt to limit the cost of trade.  Let the national governments negotiate with each other in the interest of the citizens and not just for the purpose of creating global free trade.  The FTA’s that have already been negotiated have their own rules that exist between the contracting parties and I believe this to be sufficient.

            The biggest issue that the authors did a very poor job of contradicting was the fact that countries not participating in the WTO experienced greater gains in trade than the countries that did participate.  Maybe that is because the countries in question acted on behalf of their country and had no restraints placed upon them by a global governing body.

            The race to consolidate global governance in the fewest forms is a frightening scenario.  The history of humanity has shown that absolute power corrupts and with global governance who will be there to check the power of that government? 

Jeffrey Brandon Lee