Time Schedule:
Saadia Pekkanen
SIS 553
Seattle Campus
Conflicts between global environmental and public health on the one hand and international trade expansion on the other in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Focuses on the state of GAITT/WTO jurisprudence and its interaction with sovereign laws and regulations. Cases include asbestos, reformulated gasoline, beef hormones, shrimp-turtle, and genetically modified organisms.
Class description
This is a specialized course in the legal politics of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and its role in forging a global consensus on free and fair trade. The WTO is often criticized for its non-democratic nature and its disregard for environmental and health concerns. This course exposes students to th key debates in these areas through some of the most controversial panel cases. How accurate is the negative image of the WTO and its legal structure? How and in what ways do WTO law, international law, and domestic legal systems interact to produce and reinforce this negative image? Is it the WTO, or its sovereign members, that need to address the "legislative" side of the legal agreements? What are the constraints and possibilities?
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
