Comment (on Managing the Rule of Law in the Americas)

Abstract

This piece is published by invitation in a special symposium issue of the Inter-American Law Review entitled “The Impact of Regional Trade Agreements on Human Rights and the Rule of Law.” The piece responds to an article, published in the same issue, by Professor Stephen Powell and Dr. Ludmila Mendonça Lopes Ribeiro entitled “Managing the Rule of Law in the Americas: An Empirical Portrait of the Effects of 15 Years of WTO, MERCOSUL, and NAFTA Dispute Resolution on Civil Society in Latin America.” Professor Powell and Dr. Ribeiro's article provides background on and analysis of global (GATT and WTO) and regional (NAFTA and MERCOSUL/MERCOSUR) trade regimes concerning North and South America.

The piece proposes a future research agenda using Professor Powell and Dr. Ribeiro’s article as a starting point. The avenues for such research this piece explores include: further primary research, causation versus correlation, identities of parties and panelists, regions beyond the Americas, politically-motivated cases, institutional proliferation, and a policy proposal concerning “extraordinary delays” in bi-national panels. These avenues of research involve trade, comparative area studies, U.S. foreign policy, and multilateralism.

Keywords: trade, trade agreements, regional trade agreements, human rights, rule of law, U.S. foreign policy, multilateralism, international trade, international arbitration, dispute resolution, corporate social responsibility, Latin America, Rwanda, China, United States, GATT, WTO, NAFTA, MERCOSUL, MERCOSUR