WTO positions to deal with the international financial and economic crisis

The diploma thesis on the subject: "WTO positions to deal with the international financial and economic crisis" makes an attempt to get a complex view of the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in relation to the recent and so far not totally overcome world economic crisis. The point of departure of the dissertation is a brief analysis of the main functions of the WTO in the context of its history including the ongoing negotiations of the so called Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The dissertation analyses further the main causes of the recent crisis and compares it with the Great Depression of the thirties in the XX century. Special attention is thereat given to the role of the international trade and the impact of both crises on it. It states that in both cases the trade was not a cause of the crisis but rather its victim. The differences are seen in the fact that in this crisis the states in principle managed to resist protectionist tendencies. This was also thanks to the role of the WTO and its effect, through its monitoring mechanism as well as the existence of the system of binding rules. It takes notice of different forms of today's protectionism and is warning against its development. In the conclusion the thesis indicates some of the possible directions of the next development of the WTO activities