The THIRD WORLD in the Third Millennium CE

About the Book

THE second volume of The Third World in the Third Millennium CE looks at how the countries of the South have fared amidst the evolution of the multilateral trading system over the years. Even at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) gave way to the World Trade Organization (WTO) as the institution governing international trade, this book reveals, the Third World nations have continued to see their developmental concerns sidelined in favour of the commercial interests of the industrial countries.

From the landmark Uruguay Round of talks which resulted in the WTO’s establishment to the ongoing Doha Round and its tortuous progress, the scenario facing the developing countries on the multilateral trade front has been one of broken promises, onerous obligations and manipulative manoeuvrings. In such a context, the need is for the countries of the Third World to push back by working together to bring about a more equitable trade order. All this is painstakingly documented by Chakravarthi Raghavan in the articles collected in this volume, which capture the complex and contentious dynamics of the trading system as seen through the eyes of a leading international affairs commentator.
 

About the author

CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN, Editor Emeritius of the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS), is a veteran Indian journalist whose professional experience spans six-and-a-half decades, including nine years covering the United Nations in New York and, since 1978, in Geneva closely monitoring and analyzing activities and negotiations at UNCTAD, GATT and the WTO as also the UN specialized agencies. He was formerly at the Press Trust of India, including as its Editor-in-Chief (1971-76). He is the author of Recolonization: GATT, the Uruguay Round and the Third World; The New Issues and Developing Countries; The World Trade Organization and Its Dispute Settlement System: Tilting the Balance Against the South; and Developing Countries and Services Trade: Chasing a Black Cat in a Dark Room Blindfolded;  and The Third World in the Third Millennium CE: The Journey from Colonialism Towards Sovereign Equality and Justice; as well as other papers and numerous articles on trade and development, finance and other issues. He was presented the Group of 77/UNDP award for TCDC/ECDC (Technical and Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries) for 1997.


Contents

Preface
   
Part I: The Uruguay Round and Its Outcome   
GATT: The MTNs, promises, practices       
Hijacking the dialogue     
A rollback of the Third World?     
Uruguay Round: Politically single, legally separate MTNs in goods and services     
The Uruguay Round and South-North relations     
The MTO: World trade promoter or new instrument of oppression?     
Uruguay Round ends, but pressures on South will continue   
World trade order or disorder after the Uruguay Round?   
Uruguay Round balance sheet – after 10 years   
A new trade order in a world of disorder?   
The WTO trade order: Advantage for whom?   

Part II: The World Trade Organization (1995-2014)
Birthday party that hosts didn’t plan   
Another blow to Third World industrialization?   
Rulings against India, Brazil raise WTO bias issues   
United States, Moore rebuffed, WTO Ministerial ends in failure   
A theatre of the absurd at Seattle   
The messy WTO becomes messier   
An “Everything But Development” Round/Work Programme at Doha   
Building a new trade architecture (on Doha’s desert sands?)   
A “development” agenda out of Doha?   
Moore pushing for quick talks on old, new issues   
Process and substance caused failure at Cancun   
Self-serving post-Cancun versions add to distrust   
No easy answers for how to proceed after Cancun   
Has the WTO learnt anything from Cancun?   
Cancun I, Cancun II and trying to repeat rewritten history?   
Can life be breathed back into the Doha Round at the WTO?   
WTO agrees on framework package on Doha talks   
Patched-up procedural deal will be worse than failure   
Hoist with their own petard?   
Disconnects at all levels   
Is what is good for “sealing” the Doha talks good for the trading system?   
Round no one wanted now proving difficult to end   
WTO catching up with two-century-old manufacturing models   
From bicycle to snowball approach to policy   
The plurilateral services game at the WTO   
Snowden, the NSA and the ever-changing US narrative   
Elephants on rampage on the way to Bali   
On to Bali to buy a pig in a poke?   
Global corporatism or multilateralism?   
Annex 1: Serious implications of Indonesia car panel report   
Annex 2: Flood of food imports could destroy Indian agriculture