Parliamentary Oversight of WTO Rule-Making: The Political and Normative Context

Abstract:     
This article makes four primary points regarding the issue of parliamentary oversight of WTO rule-making. First, we need a conceptual framework to assess the tradeoffs between different
mechanisms for ensuring oversight, including parliamentary oversight, of the WTO. No institutional mechanism is perfect. All proposed mechanisms should be assessed in terms of how well they permit parties to participate in decision-making that affects them in a relatively unbiased manner compared to other realistic, non-idealized institutional alternatives. This analytical framework can be termed "comparative institutional analysis."

Working Paper Series