Global governance and the World Trade Organization

For those seeking a detailed and considered account of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) role in global governance, the popular, practitioner and scholarly literature can be rather frustrating. A quick glance through the existing commentary uncovers a dearth of work in this area. In probing further, it becomes apparent that even in those few works purporting to be both centrally and peripherally concerned with the WTO’s role in the governance of global life, almost none define or engage with the term global governance or explore the Organization’s role therein. What becomes apparent is that existing commentary has been confined to accounts of the Organization’s shortcomings variously perceived and the myriad ways in which it could be reformed, refashioned and, occasionally, disbanded. Indeed, it is only in the most fleeting of moments that the WTO’s role in global governance is discussed; even then this is done without clarity or precision.