Developing Countries in the GATT Legal System

A reissue of Robert E. Hudec's seminal study of the situation of developing countries within the international trade system is once again available.

Robert E. Hudec (Author), J. Michael Finger (Foreword by)

9781107692169, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 May 2014

232 pages, 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.32 kg

'In a review of a collection of the late Robert Hudec's essays in 2000, David Palmeter wrote that Hudec's writings on international trade law 'are insightful, sensible, eloquent, witty and generally unavailable' … Cambridge's re-issuance of Developing Countries in the GATT Legal System, originally published in 1987, confirms the first four parts of this analysis and, happily, resolves part of the last problem. … Hudec provides both a history and a critique of the role of the developing countries in the GATT legal system … one cannot conclude a review of a book by Robert Hudec without paying tribute to his clear and concise writing style.' World Trade Review

In this reissued edition of the classic work Developing Countries in the GATT Legal System, Robert E. Hudec's clear insight on the situation of developing countries within the international trade system is once again made available. Hudec is regarded as one of the most prominent commentators on the evolution of the current international trade regime, and this long out-of-print book offers his analysis of the dynamics playing out between developed and developing nations. A significant contribution when the book was first published, this work continues to serve as a thoughtful and important guide to how current and future trade policy must seriously adapt to the demands of the developing world. This new edition includes a new introduction by J. Michael Finger that examines Hudec's work to understand how the GATT got into its current historical-institutional predicament and the lasting impact of his work on current research on international trade systems.

Part I. A History of the Legal Relationship: 1. Post-war negotiations on trade liberalization
2. First decade of the GATT: 1948–57
3. Demands for a new legal relationship: 1958–63
4. Defining the new relationship: 1964–71
5. Testing the new relationship: 1972–9
6. Developments in the 1980s: form without substance
Part II. A Legal Critique of the GATT's Current Policy: 7. Basic elements of the legal criticism
8. Separating legal and economic issues
9. Impact of GATT legal policy on internal decision-making
10. Impact on decisions in other governments: non-reciprocity
11. Impact on decisions in other governments: preferences
12. First steps towards a better legal policy.

Subject Areas: International economic & trade law [LBBM], Law [L], International trade [KCLT], International economics [KCL]