As the major players in globalization, firms often operate in states where human rights may not be respected. Without direct intent, firms may be complicit in human rights violations. In 2008, John Ruggie, the UN Special Representative on business and human rights, developed a framework for...

Corruption (the abuse of entrusted authority for illicit gain) is pervasive, hard to measure, and damaging both to economic growth and human rights. Corruption is also intimately associated with trade. However, the international organization governing trade, the WTO, says nothing about...

The EITI is a multisectoral partnership designed to help resource rich countries avoid corruption in the management of extractive industry revenues. It is widely perceived as successful, yet Although EITI is a process designed for the people, it is not always by the people. Not all participating...

This article examines how WTO rules could support business acting responsibly in nations with inadequate governance. The article also discuses how WTO rules hamper global corporate social responsibility. In particular the author examines social labeling, procurement policies, CSR clauses, and...

This article uses the day to day operations of the WTO (trade negotiations, trade waivers, acessions, trade policy reviews) to discuss how human rights issues are seeping into the work of the WTO. The author also discusses how the WTO may promote particular human rights such as public...

One way to jumpstart WTO talks is to rethink how we protect intellectual property. Many analysts now fear the current approach hampers technological progress and may lead to information oligopolies. This article presents a grand bargain on IPR to help stimulate global development

This article examines the signals that US public policy sends to global market actors regarding their social and environmental practices. The United States Government does not mandate that US based firms follow US social and environmental law in foreign markets. However, because many developing...

This article examines how the United States and the European Union (the EU) use trade agreements to both advance and restrict the free flow of information, and to promote Internet freedom. This issue is not new: in the 1980s, with the advent of faster computers, software and satellites,...

Herein, we discuss how trade policies, agreements, bans and strategies could affect Internet openness, Internet governance, and Internet freedom in the U.S. EU and Canada. We do not discuss telecommunications or e-commerce issues. We note that despite the shared goal of promoting internet...