Globalizing the GATT

Leah A. Haus

doi:10.5771/9780815716211

Summary

The explosive events in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union have dramatically changed the political landscape that had existed for decades. The West must now develop new policies that are suitable for addressing the opportunities and challenges of the post-cold war world. Globalizing the GATT describes the task of integrating the Soviet Union's successor states and Eastern European counties into the global economy and focuses on their participation in the international trade participation in the international trade institution, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Through a comparative analysis of the history of negotiations between the former Eastern European countries and the GATT, Leah Haus explains the current policy problems that must be addressed.

Drawing on documentary sources and extensive interviews with former and current officials from the European Community, the GATT secretariat, Hungary, Poland, and the Untied States, the author traces the historical origins and evolution of the Soviet and Eastern European countries' relations with the GATT from the 1940s to the present.

Haus demonstrates that economic issues have been less relevant to these negotiations than might be expected, because Western political-security concerns have predominated in the past. Strategic political objectives have driven Western policies when determining whether an eastern European country could affiliate with the GATT.

Haus shows that trade policy issues generally surfaced when strategic political objectives dictated cooperation with an eastern European country, and in these cases the negotiations became enmeshed in broader West-West conflicts over multilateral and bilateral trade practices.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2010
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-3503-8
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-1621-1
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 141
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
1. Globalizing the GATT No access
2. Purpose of the Study No access
3. Arguments of the Study No access
4. Overview No access
1. Political-Security Issues No access
2. Trade Policy Issues No access
3. Conclusion No access
1. Poland's Accession to the GATT No access
2. Rumania's Accession to the GATT No access
3. Hungary's Accession to the GATT No access
4. Summary No access
1. Discriminatory Quantitative Restrictions No access
2. Bilateralism versus Multilateralism No access
3. Entrance Fees No access
4. The Post-Cold-War World No access
1. Initial Approaches, 1970s No access
2. The Standards Code No access
3. Criteria for Participation in the Uruguay Round No access
4. Bulgaria's Bid No access
1. Initial Approaches, 1980s No access
2. Western Positions No access
3. The End of the Cold War No access
1. The Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and the GATT: A Summary No access
2. The Future No access
3. Observer Status No access
4. Associate Agreement No access
5. Accession to Membership No access
6. Conclusion No access
Notes No access Pages 117 - 136
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3. C No access
4. D No access
5. E No access
6. F No access
7. G No access
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11. L No access
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13. M No access
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15. P No access
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20. U No access
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22. Y No access