Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System

This book advocates re-centering development in international trade law by reclaiming multilateralism and resolving the WTO's systemic crisis.

This book is for scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners interested in international trade law and economic development. It explains how development can be re-centered in the global trading system by addressing the WTO's crisis, rising industrial policy, and pathways for reform.This new edition offers a timely and compelling account of how development can be reclaimed as a central purpose of international trade law. Written for scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners, it explains why a stable rule-based trading system remains essential for economic transformation and poverty reduction. The book provides a comprehensive and accessible guide to the core rules and disciplines of WTO law, while also confronting the systemic crisis facing the World Trade Organization today—marked by dispute settlement paralysis, growing unilateralism, and the resurgence of industrial policy in developed countries that increasingly conflicts with established trade rules. By combining rigorous legal analysis with a development-centered perspective, the book highlights both the challenges and the possibilities for renewing multilateralism. It ultimately proposes realistic pathways for reform, making it an essential resource for understanding the future of the world trading system and its role in global development.