After Cancún: G21, WTO, and Multilateralism

Abstract

Why did the Cancún WTO meeting collapse? What is expected next? A content analysis finds G21 at the interface of 1) less developed countries (LDCs) protesting the uneven playing field; 2) long-standing substantive fissures; 3) increasing unilateralism by developed countries (DCs); and 4) farm protection haunting multilateralism. US competitive liberalization emerges most coherently from the WTO wreckage (Feinberg 2003). Based on discrimination and asymmetrical reciprocity, it aggressively targets the European Union (EU), seeks LDC bandwagoning, discourages regime reconstruction (Krasner 1982), defies neorealist/neoliberalist/constructivist tendencies (Waltz 1979; Keohane 1989; Hopf 1998), and predicts future trade turbulence (Rosenau 1997).