International Trade Policy and Law (Advanced Study Seminar)

E2025

Global and Development Studies / International Politics and Governance / Public Administration / Law and Public Policy

Course

English

Read about the Master Programme and find the Study Regulations at ruc.dk

You register for activities through stads selvbetjening during the announced registration period, which you can see on the Study administration homepage.

When registering for courses, please be aware of the potential conflicts and overlaps between course and exam time and dates. The planning of course activities at Roskilde University is based on the recommended study programmes, which should not overlap. However, if you choose optional courses and/or study plans that goes beyond the recommended study programmes, an overlap of lectures or exam dates may occur depending on which courses you choose.

10

Camilla Jensen (camje@ruc.dk)

Laust Schouenborg (lausts@ruc.dk)

ISE Registration & Exams (ise-exams@ruc.dk)

U60908

A specialisation course aims to allow students to immerse themselves in the theories/theory lines and empirical issues pertaining to a particular subject area. The course equips students to competently select and argue for the applicability and relevance of a theory/theory line to given issues. The courses offered are based on the Institute's research in the field and knowledge of the highest international standard. The specific subject area of the courses will be described in the activity description.

Advanced Study Seminars offers students insight for instance into how international politics impacts governance, how governance impacts politics, and what this means for the ability of international institutions, governments, and other organisations to help address current issues such as climate, environment, security, digitalisation, and public health.

In the seminar we will focus on the case of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as exemplary of the current disorder in the international system and the challenges of providing international public goods (such as peace, safety and health standards, decent working conditions and a stable atmosphere).

The WTO emerged out of the Bretton Woods Agreement originally conceived in 1949 after the 2nd World War. Compared to its sisters (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund), the WTO only emerged much later as a permanent international organisation regulating trade policies and the usage of traditional policy instruments such as tariffs and quotas. The mandate continues to be limited (goods and services trade, intellectual property rights and certain product standards) and the annual budget is smaller than the annual turnover of a single product group such as Kit-Kat at Nestlé.

Yet in historical perspective WTOs predecessor (the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade - GATT) must be considered the most successful international arbiter in the area of international trade of all times. Over a relatively short period of time (until the WTO emerged out of the GATT in 1995) membership had grown from the original 23 founding members to include nearly all countries in the world (today only a few countries such as Iran, North Korea and small islands highly dependent on tourism remain non-members). Over successive rounds of negotiation (and in the Tokyo and Uruguay Rounds in particular), the system worked to reduce the maximum tariff that any country could apply on the goods of any other member country (following the Most Favored Nation principle or MFN). In the Uruguay Round the system of binding tariffs finally from above was adopted. Following this principle all member countries agreed not to increase their tariffs over the agreed maximum except under certain exceptional circumstances.

Now in hindsight and looking at the troubles the international trading system is causing today (where trade is increasingly being driven by regulatory difference rather than comparative advantage in areas such as environment, climate, labour and taxation), the mandate and feasible regulatory scale and scope of the WTO seems suddenly limited.

Therefore the seminar will focus on examining the origins, organisation, rules and practices of the current WTO system. Followed by an analysis of what is needed to bring the WTO back to life and help ensure that order is restored in an equitable manner for all participating countries.

Bossche, P. V. D. (2021). The law and policy of the World Trade Organization: text, cases, and materials.

Geck, A. (2024). The Power to Persuade: Strategic Arguing at the World Trade Organization. University of Toronto Press.

Staiger, R. W. (2022). A world trading system for the twenty-first century. MIT Press. Open Access link here: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5518/A-World-Trading-System-for-the-Twenty-First

Bacchus, J. (2022). Trade links: new rules for a new world. Cambridge University Press.

Various reports from the WTO and the WTO website.

20 hours of lectures; 100 hours of reading the course texts (5 hours per lecture), 50 hours of working on various home assignments (individually and in groups); 50 hours of synopsis preparation and writing, 50 hours of review for the exam. Total estimated workload: 270 hours.

The activity is evaluated regularly according to the study board evaluation procedure. The activity responsible will be informed about a potential evaluation of the activity at semesterstart. Se link to the study board evaluation praxis here https://intra.ruc.dk/nc/for-ansatte/organisering/raadnaevn- og-udvalg/oversigt-over-studienaevn/studienaevn-for-internationale-studier/arbejdet-medkvalitet- i-uddannelserne/

The activity is evaluated regularly based on the study board's evaluation procedure. The responsible for the activity will be informed of any evaluation of the activity at the start of the semester. See link to the study board's evaluation practice here: https://intra.ruc.dk/fileadmin/assets/ise/Undervisning/Evaluation_procedures_at_ISE.pdf.

Preliminary programme (the final programme including law colleagues that will give talks, guest lecturers onsite and online tba at semester start)

Part 1. Introduction and background to the WTO system 1.1 - The History of the WTO 1.2 - The WTOs mandate and how the international trade dispute system works 1.3 - From complete success to complete failure - how did it go so wrong?

Part 2. A system in crisis 2.1 - Case law at the WTO, example of recent case disputes (aluminium and steel, solar panels) 2.2 - So many standards, so little action 2.3 - Organisational causes of inaction: paralysis of the appellate body and the dispute settlement mechanism (this class will be led by a lawyer colleague or guest speaker) 2.4 - The interests of small versus large countries and why the small are in trouble now 2.5 - The mandate - increasingly irrelevant in a more complex world?

Part 3. 3.1 - Current reform of the WTO system 3.2 - Possibilities for extending and enlarging the mandate of the WTO (interview with J. Bachus)

• Be able to explain and evaluate, using relevant terminology, the advantages and disadvantages of various theories/theory lines within the aspect of a subject area that is dealt with in the specialisation course

• Be able to confidently and independently evaluate, select and apply relevant theories in relation to an issue

• Be able to reflect critically on the relevance of the topic to the subject matter of the course

• Carry out analyses on a scientific basis and deal in a creative and solution-oriented manner with central issues within the course theme

• Communicate knowledge in language that is technically precise, well-structured and well-argued.

Individual portfolio exam.

The character limit of the portfolio is maximum 36,000 characters, including spaces. Examples of written products are exercise responses, talking points for presentations, written feedback, reflections, written assignments. The preparation of the products may be subject to time limits.
The character limits include the cover, table of contents, bibliography, figures and other illustrations, but exclude any appendices.

The portfolio is written completely or partially during the course.

The entire portfolio must be handed in at the same time (uploaded to eksamen.ruc.dk). Handing in the portfolio or parts of the portfolio to the supervisor for feedback, cannot replace the upload to eksamen.ruc.dk.

Assessment: 7-point grading scale.

Samme som ordinær eksamen / same form as ordinary exam

Individual portfolio exam.

Criterias related to the overall learning outcomes:

• Account for the history of the GATT and WTO system in the area of international trade;

• Explain and discuss, using relevant terminology and perspectives, the origins, organisation, rules and practices of the current WTO system;

• Be able to analyse and understand the power structure of the WTO from at least two or more theoretical perspectives that were represented in the course;

• Analyse and reflect critically on the different perspectives and themes taken up in the course such as the WTOs mandate, the legal structure behind the WTO as an international organisation, the principles behind the resolution of case disputes, the Most Favored Nation principle and needs of and prospects for reform at the WTO;

• Discuss and communicate knowledge in language that is technically precise, well-structured and well-argued.

In this exam, the use of generative AI (GenAI) tools is allowed as per the university's guidelines for the use of AI. Specifically, the following points must be observed: • When using GenAI tools, you must include a description of the purpose of using GenAI and which GenAI are used and how they have used. The description is assessed the same way as other methodology sections regarding the use of relevant literature, course’s general learning objectives, and assessment criteria. • Text copied from GenAI chats must be quoted the same way as citations from other texts. The citations and your demonstrated ability to interpret, evaluate and critically assess them is part of the overall assessment of the exam. Please consider including the prompt in a footnote to the citation if you find it relevant to demonstrate your description and analysis of the subject matter. • Ordinary spell checking and other language suggestions as known from Word or other word processing programs are allowed without declaration.