| The World Trade Organization's new dispute settlement mechanism has the authority to render "binding" legal decisions on its Member states. The tribunal is vested with judicial review-like powers in the sense that it is required to determine whether any challenged laws, regulations or practices of WTO Members are consistent with the international trade rules set out in the WTO Agreement.; Many have raised questions about this new international organization and whether the jurisprudence of the 'court' will require decision makers within states to effectively adopt and implement a neo-liberal agenda. At the heart of these concerns is the extent to which this new body of international trade law will influence if not outright dictate, the parameters of social and economic policies at the domestic level without the consideration of often competing public interest issues or the input of democratically elected legislatures.; This project examines the scope and influence of the WTO's new dispute settlement mechanism within the nation-state. To date, the tribunal has broadly interpreted provisions of the WTO Agreement and rendered decisions on a wide range of issues that affect not simply economic matters, but also labour, environmental, social and cultural issues. On its face, it appears to wield extraordinary power and influence akin to high courts in the domestic arena.; Yet despite appearances to the contrary, the trade tribunal's decisions have had a limited impact on Canada and the United States. Domestic and international factors have acted in concert to mitigate the overall effect on governance and social justice matters within these domestic arenas. The neo-liberal values underpinning the WTO Agreement are not, in other words, being superimposed on Canadian and American legislative and policy arrangements via an "activist" international judiciary. Consequently while the WTO Agreement may appear to be constitution-like, it is more akin to an inter-governmental regime. |
