To Dystopia and Beyond: The WTO in a Warming Megaregional World

13 Pages Posted: 10 Sep 2019

Date Written: August 22, 2019

Abstract

This paper will highlight the linkages between the climate crisis and trade negotiations in a dystopic post-WTO world. It will argue that the window of opportunity to achieve an effective multilateral trade regime has closed and will be sealed shut by accelerating climate change. The post-WTO regime is a megaregional regime, and it will exclude those countries that do not get on board before the destabilizing effects of the climate crisis make their inclusion impossible to achieve. Geopolitical shifts destabilized the WTO regime and have led to its collapse. The effects of the climate crisis will be even more dramatic. This paper examines the (not even) worst-case scenario for the post-WTO 21st century, in order to highlight the importance of managing the risk of catastrophic economic, ecological and security consequences arising from the convergence of multilateral institution failure and the worsening climate crisis.

Keywords: WTO, climate change, developing countries, megaregional trade agreements

JEL Classification: K32, K33, O19

Suggested Citation

Condon, Bradly J., To Dystopia and Beyond: The WTO in a Warming Megaregional World (August 22, 2019). University of Wollongong, School of Law, Paradise Lost or Found? The Post-WTO International 'Legal' Order (Utopian and Dystopian Possibilities), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3441316 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3441316

Bradly J. Condon (Contact Author)

ITAM - School of Law ( email )

Rio Hondo No. 1
Col. Tizapan-San Angel, 01000
Mexico
52 55 56 28 40 00 x3789 (Phone)
52 55 56 28 40 49 (Fax)

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