This paper illustrates how the work of the WTO's standing committees is fuelling regulatory cooperation between WTO members, and inspiring RTA negotiators. We explore, as a case study, how the WTO TBT Committee has shaped provisions on international standards in RTAs, and focus on the extent to...

Das Transatlantische Freihandelsabkommen (TTIP) wurde in Öffentlichkeit und Wissenschaft zum Teil sehr plakativ diskutiert. Die Autoren erweitern die Debatte über die Folgen von TTIP für Wachstum, Beschäftigung sowie die Auswirkungen auf Umwelt- und Verbraucherschutz um die Perspektive der...

Our paper contributes by demonstrating that public opinion on open-market policies is mainly shaped by ideology rather than by rational considerations and economic self-interest. Exploiting data on attitudes towards TTIP, Free Trade, Protectionism, and Globalization from the Eurobarometer, a...

Most specific trade concerns (STCs), which are raised before the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Committee), disappear from the TBT Committee's meeting agendas without escalating into formal disputes. At the same time, a relatively small number of TBT-related disputes have been...

Competition policy, today, is an essential element of the legal and institutional framework for the global economy. Whereas decades ago, anti-competitive practices tended to be viewed mainly as a domestic phenomenon, most facets of competition law enforcement now have an important international...

To what extent do the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization, and the World Bank remain central today and how much influence do they still wield in shaping the global agenda? While several studies have traced the development of various intergovernmental organizations (IGOs),...

The EU is a relatively open economy and has benefited from the global multilateral system. We argue that the EU should defend its strategic interests with three steps. First, it should collaborate with partners around the world in defence of multilateralism. Second, it should establish deeper...

While Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine is shaking the liberal international order, the Global South is using the occasion to demand overdue reforms and complaining about the neglect of its acute structural problems. Alternative organisations, such as BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation...