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Trading Places. Rethinking Trade Governance and the Status of Emerging Powers

  • This dissertation examines recent contestation surrounding the status of emerging economies in international trade politics. In particular, it looks at the ways in which the rise of Brazil, India and China – the BICs – has shaped special rights for developing countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The primary focus of the thesis is the WTO’s principle of Special and Differential Treatment (SDT), which provides developing countries with exemptions from certain liberalization commitments, implementation flexibilities, and pledges of technical assistance. At the WTO, access to such special rights is based on individual members’ selfdeclaration as developing countries. However, as the BICs have risen, the ‘North’- ‘South’ binary that underpins SDT has become less clear. The continued use of a legal norm based on the strict bifurcation of WTO members into sets of developed and developing countries has thus been called into question, most notably by the United States. At the outset, the dissertation develops a conceptual framework for delineating the different ideal typical pathways along which special and differential treatment can develop. An overall process of fragmentation is then outlined, characterized by the unmaking of special rights for developing countries, in parallel to the resilience of differential treatment for the smaller sub-group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The thesis continues by examining the contestation at the heart of these processes more closely. In doing so, it sets up a novel theoretical framework to analyse the potential adaptation strategies that emerging economies can adopt in response to contestation of their special rights. Significant strategic variation amongst the BICs comes to the fore in a series of case studies, as well as two chapters on China’s strong defence of its developing country status and Brazil’s recalibration of its (previously held) Southern leadership role. The thesis closes with an in-depth case study of negotiations on intellectual property rights. While the divergence of emerging economy positions and the fragmentation of SDT have marked the WTO era, the final chapter shows that in areas where BICs unity is still possible – such as on LDC rights – normative erosion is slowed.

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Metadaten
Document Type:Doctoral Thesis
Language:English
Author(s):Till Schöfer
Advisor:Clara Weinhardt, Daniela Stockmann, Nicolas Lamp
Hertie Collections (Serial Number):Dissertations submitted to the Hertie School (11/2022)
Publication year:2022
Publishing Institution:Hertie School
Granting Institution:Hertie School
Thesis date:2022/09/27
Number pages:264
DOI:https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-4504
Release Date:2022/09/30
Notes:
Parts of the dissertation have been published:

Chapter Two: The Unmaking of the North-South Distinction in a Multipolar Era.
• Published as Weinhardt, C. and Schöfer, T. (2021). ‘Differential Treatment for Developing Countries at the WTO: The Unmaking of the North-South Distinction in a Multipolar World’. Third World Quarterly 43:1, 74-93.

Chapter Three: ‘Privileges’ of the Weak – Emerging Powers’ Pursuit of Special Rights for Developing Countries.
• Published as Schöfer, T. and Weinhardt, C. (2022). ‘Developing Country Status at the WTO: Brazil, India and China’s Divergent Strategies.’ International Affairs 98:6.

Chapter Five: From Southern Leader to Flexible Negotiator: New Directions in Brazilian Trade Policy.
• Published as Schöfer T (2023). From Developing Country Leader to Flexible Negotiator: New Directions in Brazilian Trade Strategy. World Trade Review 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474745623000319
Notes:
Shelf mark: 2022D011 + 2022D011+1
Hertie School Research:Publications PhD Researchers
Licence of document (German):Creative Commons - CC BY - 4.0 International
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