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2 - Contracting v. Multilateralism in Global Economic Governance

Before, During and After the WTO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2021

By
Karen J. Alter
Edited by
Manfred Elsig ,
Rodrigo Polanco  and
Peter van den Bossche
Manfred Elsig
Affiliation:
Universität Bern, Switzerland
Rodrigo Polanco
Affiliation:
Universität Bern, Switzerland
Peter van den Bossche
Affiliation:
Universität Bern, Switzerland
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Summary

This chapter considers three legal ideal types for international economic governance, each with its own dispute resolution approach. The private contract mode of transnational economic governance lets businesses create mutual agreements (contracts), so long as these agreements adhere to basic contractual confines. For transnational business, the private contract model is generally coupled with a form of dispute resolution where the parties choose their dispute settlement preference: mediation, good offices, arbitration or adjudication in a designated adjudicatory system. In essence, business chooses its rules and the judge of those rules, albeit within certain confines. The private contract model is the most decentralized mode of transnational economic governance, and it exists only so far as governments choose to let businesses define the contractual terms for trade and the resolution of disputes.

Type
Chapter
Information
International Economic Dispute Settlement
Demise or Transformation?
 , pp. 15 - 44
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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