Neoliberal principles and WTOGEG vs. GED

Mikhail Parfentyev

10.04.2023Mikhail Parfentyev

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At the meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) heads of state in the spring of 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced the death of “the Washington Consensus”—the famous list of market-liberalizing policy prescriptions that guided the previous 20 years of economic policy.

(Painter, 2009)

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Lost in translation: WTO

World Tyranny Oligarchy

Or

World Trade Organization

10.04.2023Mikhail Parfentyev

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Main directions of critique

problems of crisis economies

social justice

labor standards

environmental damage

Degree of influence on it?

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Environment

“allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking to both protect and preserve the environment and to enhance the means for doing so in a manner consistent with their respective needs and concerns at different levels of economic development.”

(From the Preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement)

10.04.2023Mikhail Parfentyev

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To identify the relationship between trade measures and environmental measures in order to promote sustainable development; to make appropriate recommendations on whether any modifications of the provisions of the multilateral trading system are required, compatible with the open, equitable and non-discriminatory nature of the system.

(Committee on Trade and Environment)

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Neoliberalism in action

The WTO Dispute Settlement System

When issues essentially of free trade, on one hand, and environmental regulation, on the other, have come into conflict, the GATT/WTO dispute system has always found in favor of trade and against environmental regulation.

(Hartwick and Peet, p. 202)

10.04.2023Mikhail Parfentyev

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Main argument

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"in the absence of proper environmental regulation and resource management, increased trade might cause so much adverse damage that the gains from trade would be less than the environmental costs”

(Charnovitz, 1999)

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Conclusion: An Optimistic view

The process of “crystallization” (MEAs)

Process Production Methods (PPMs)

Wake-up call on the potential of the trade rules

According Halle, 2006

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References Charnovitz S. (1999) "Addressing Environmental and Labor Issues in the World Trade

Organization". Trade and Global Markets: World Trade Organization. Progressive Policy Institute;

Chroev N. and Babb S. (2009) The crisis of neoliberalism and the future on international institutions: A comparison of the IMF and the WTO, Springer science pp.459-484;

Halle M. (2006) WTO and Sustainable Development (A chapter in “The WTO and East Asian Regional Integration”) [Online] Available at: http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?id=779;

Hart-Landsberg M. (2006) Neoliberalism: Myths and reality, Monthly Review [Online] Available at: http://monthlyreview.org/2006/04/01/neoliberalism-myths-and-reality;

Hartwick E. and Peet R. (2003) Neoliberalism and Nature: The Case of the WTO, ANNALS, AAPS, 590. [Online] Available at: http://ann.sagepub.com/content/590/1/188;

Painter A. (2009) The Washington Consensus is Dead, The Guardian, 4/10/2009;

UNCTAD (1999) Trade and Development Report 1999, New York:United Nations;

Weisbrot M., Baker D. and Rosnick D (2005) The Scorecard on Development: 25 Years of Diminished Progress, Washington, D.C., Center for Economic and Policy Research;

WTO: World Tyranny Oligarchy [Online] Availble at:http://www.km.ru/spetsproekty/2012/06/06/vto-vsemirnaya-tiraniya-oligarkhata.