Can the World Trade Organization become a democratic institution? Available to Purchase

Riots, and the political reactions that followed, in the European Union and in the USA, will likely serve to turn the World Trade Organization (WTO) away from its purely material bent and into an institution that engages the social, cultural and environmental concerns of the world community. It may well wind up being modeled after the EU. At future meetings, members of the WTO will undoubtedly be pressured into dealing with many of the issues aired in the streets of Europe and the USA. Creating a more democratic WTO should appease many of the disparate constituencies that openly voiced their reservations about the WTO’s narrow commercial focus and also permit the world’s poorest nations to finally begin to benefit economically from the globalization movement.