Development disputes in international trade

A central “law and development” perspective on international economic law relates to the effective participation of developing countries in the international economic and legal system – in the World Trade Organization (WTO), regional trade agreements (RTAs), bilateral investment treaties (BITs), and other international economic legal mechanisms. In this field, considerable attention has been given over the past decade or so to two overarching legal issues. Substantively, there is the seemingly intractable difficulty in concretizing and enforcing fluid concepts such as “development,” “special and differential treatment” (SDT), and “common but differentiated responsibilities (CDR)” as firm legal rules and principles. In terms of process and procedure, there is the question of the diminished capacity of developing countries (and associated private economic actors) to use rules-based dispute settlement, such as in the WTO, or under RTAs and BITs, to their advantage.