Lack of information is a severe barrier to effective participation by developing countries in the international trade regime. Information systems in international regimes are the sets of institutions, actors and procedures involved in collecting, analysing and disseminating information about...

Anfang Dezember 2013 einigten sich die Mitgliedsländer der WTO auf ein neues Welthandelsabkommen. Gabriel Felbermayr, ifo Institut und Universität München, sieht einen Anpassungsbedarf der WTO an die neue Gemengelage in der Weltwirtschaft, da in Zukunft immer häufiger in regionalen Abkommen...

Im Dezember 2015 fand die 10. WTO-Ministerkonferenz in Nairobi statt. Nach Ansicht von Heribert Dieter, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, kann die Ministerkonferenz einen moderaten Erfolg vorweisen, da einige Beschlüsse gefasst und eine offene Konfrontation vermieden wurden. Deutlich...

This Policy Brief concerns the troubled state of the Doha Round. The classical model for a multilateral trade negotiation (as developed from the GATT years and commonly called a Round) would include trade liberalisation through tariff reductions and elimination of non-tariff barriers, with an...

Almost eight years after the launch of the Doha Round, the WTO negotiations remain mired in a swamp of detail, with many participants unwilling or unable to make the hard decisions which would bring the Round to a conclusion. Meanwhile, the world has changed dramatically with the onset of a...

The economic crisis has sparked fears about emerging protectionism and created wide interest in initiatives to monitor trade policies. The WTO regularly examines its members' trade policies - but its reports tend to be superficial and uncritical. How could they be improved to become a more...