Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The War of the White Gold How the increased legalization of WTO affect Burkina Faso's ability to influence American cotton subsidies

Hagberg, Elin (2008)
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Traditionally international trade disputes within the WTO have been handled through diplomacy or soft law. In recent years there has been a shift towards a more rule based system within the organization, a shift towards legalization, hard law. States that are not acting in compliance with the WTO rules might be brought to the Dispute Settlement Body. The first time Least Developed Countries, LDC, were involved in a legal dispute in the WTO was in 2003, when American cotton subsidies were challenged by Brazil. West African cotton producing states, C4 signed up as third parties, however not Burkina Faso. Instead Burkina Faso was involved in the cotton initiative which was presented at the same time. Through a qualitative textual analysis of... (More)
Traditionally international trade disputes within the WTO have been handled through diplomacy or soft law. In recent years there has been a shift towards a more rule based system within the organization, a shift towards legalization, hard law. States that are not acting in compliance with the WTO rules might be brought to the Dispute Settlement Body. The first time Least Developed Countries, LDC, were involved in a legal dispute in the WTO was in 2003, when American cotton subsidies were challenged by Brazil. West African cotton producing states, C4 signed up as third parties, however not Burkina Faso. Instead Burkina Faso was involved in the cotton initiative which was presented at the same time. Through a qualitative textual analysis of articles I study legalization versus negotiations in the WTO and its effect on LDC. No actual change has come of the legal case or the negotiation track but scholars are increasingly considering the leverage that legal measures provide negotiations with. The increased legalization has ?levelled the playing field? and increased the presence of developing countries in the WTO negotiations and legal disputes. Not only by the rulings but because of the increased attention from media, civil society and the reputational costs associated with breaking the law. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hagberg, Elin
supervisor
organization
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
WTO, Legalization, Cotton, 'Soft law', 'Hard law', 'Burkina Faso', Political and administrative sciences, Statsvetenskap, förvaltningskunskap
language
English
id
1316376
date added to LUP
2009-01-08 00:00:00
date last changed
2009-01-28 00:00:00
@misc{1316376,
  abstract     = {{Traditionally international trade disputes within the WTO have been handled through diplomacy or soft law. In recent years there has been a shift towards a more rule based system within the organization, a shift towards legalization, hard law. States that are not acting in compliance with the WTO rules might be brought to the Dispute Settlement Body. The first time Least Developed Countries, LDC, were involved in a legal dispute in the WTO was in 2003, when American cotton subsidies were challenged by Brazil. West African cotton producing states, C4 signed up as third parties, however not Burkina Faso. Instead Burkina Faso was involved in the cotton initiative which was presented at the same time. Through a qualitative textual analysis of articles I study legalization versus negotiations in the WTO and its effect on LDC. No actual change has come of the legal case or the negotiation track but scholars are increasingly considering the leverage that legal measures provide negotiations with. The increased legalization has ?levelled the playing field? and increased the presence of developing countries in the WTO negotiations and legal disputes. Not only by the rulings but because of the increased attention from media, civil society and the reputational costs associated with breaking the law.}},
  author       = {{Hagberg, Elin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The War of the White Gold How the increased legalization of WTO affect Burkina Faso's ability to influence American cotton subsidies}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}