Part of Series
One of the most important yet least understood organizations in the world, the WTO is a lynchpin of globalization, allowing us to enjoy products and services from around the globe. However, it also lays bare the frailty of many industries, leading some to claim that it stokes unemployment and harms the developing world. In this engaging introduction, David Collins examines the goals of the WTO and the difficulties experienced by member countries struggling to adapt to the pressures of globalization. Refuting the argument that the WTO should expand its mandate to cover wider social issues, Collins demonstrates how this would confuse the organization’s primary objective – to liberalize international trade. With case studies straight from the headlines and clear explanations of complex issues like regional trade agreements and currency manipulation, this lucid exposition is an essential insight into what the WTO does and how it fits into the world we know.
Author
Professor David Collins teaches and researches in the field of international economic law specializing in the law of the World Trade Organization and international investment law at a central London university and also heads his institution's Digital Trade Research Group. He is a Solicitor of England & Wales and is admitted to the Bars of Ontario and New York. David is Co-Editor in Chief of the journal International Trade Law and Regulation and Series Editor for Routledge Insights on International Economic Law. David has been a visiting researcher at law schools in the US, Spain, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Australia, Russia, Hong Kong and Japan. In 2018 the Government of Canada nominated David to the roster of panelists for NAFTA (now USMCA) binational Trade Remedies disputes. More recently he was appointed to the Academic Advisory Council of the research forum Politeia and became an output assessor for the Law sub-panel for the 2021 REF. He has been a member of the International Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales since 2009. David's first work of fiction - the Savage Season - is a historical thriller pitting humanity against the elements, the tides of war, and a lone prehistoric creature surviving into the early 20th century.
