Power, Linkage and Accommodation: The WTO as an International Actor and its Influence on Other Actors and Regimes

Abstract

International regimes interact with each other through linkage and accommodation. The World Trade Organization, as a powerful regime, has been pressed to account for, or link, the values of other regimes. One can already see attempts at linkage within the WTO. At the same time other regimes operate within the shadow of the WTO's primacy and power. Regimes adjust their functioning to coexist with the WTO. These regimes thus "accommodate" the WTO. One can see an example of this dynamic relationship among regimes by analyzing provisions of the WTO's Agreement on Sanitary and Phystosanitary Measures and the Cartagena Protocol on Biodiversity. While initially such linkage and accommodation has some appeal, it may also mask important normative differences among regimes. Modeling linkage and accommodation mechanisms can shed light on the structural and normative influences of powerful regimes.

Keywords: WTO, trade, dynamic, linkage, accommodation

JEL Classification: F40, K23, K33