The Politics of Dispute Settlement Design: Explaining Legalism in Regional Trade Pacts

In recent years two parallel trends have emerged in the organizationof international trade. The first development is the rise ofregionalism, with a host of new integration initiatives drawn alonggeographical lines. More than thirty regional accords were officiallynotified to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between1990 and 1994 alone, a total exceeding that of any previous five-yearperiod. The second is a distinct but less widespread move towardlegalism in the enforcement of trade agreements. To an unusual extenttrading states have delegated to impartial third parties the authorityto review and issue binding rulings on alleged treaty violations, attimes based on complaints filed by nonstate or supranational actors.Separately, the two trends have garnered scholarly attention, sparkingcomparative analysis of regional versus multilateral arrangements anddebates regarding the politicaldynamics of judicializationwithinindividualpacts, especiallyin Europe. The intersection of these twotrends, however, remains little examined.