Institutionalizing the balance : trade objectives and environmental concerns :

The interrelationship between trade objectives and environmental concerns lies at the heart of this research. After describing different trade regimes and environmental protection agreements, and offering the general framework of international law in which the trade-environment-development debate takes place, this thesis elaborates on the structures of international institutional authority that have been created through these trade regimes, environmental protection agreements and development organizations. A review of the existing international organizations will show us their strong points, usefulness and weaknesses, and will bring us to the statement of the necessity of new institutional authority in order to more effectively address the trade-environment-development issues at stake. On the one hand, the idea of a newly created Global Environmental Institution would highly improve the institutional potential in this debate, but is likely not a realistic option in the international arena of today. On the other hand, the option of institutional improvement and betterment of the existing international structures is more realistically feasible, and possibly the only way to achieve New Institutional Authority in the area of trade and environment today