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Giving Peace a Chance? Decolonization, Development, and the Foundations of the GATT
Das, Sannoy
Das, Sannoy
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yjil_49_2-ocr.pdf
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Abstract
This Article examinesthe normative foundations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It shows how the GATT emerged out of contests between two opposing visions of world order. One broadly drew on liberal political economy, and the other was centered on the principle of economic development. This Article recovers the uniquely internationalist dimensions of the latter, developmental vision. By doing so, this Article complicates the common narrative that the postwar order was shaped by a tension between forces of liberal internationalism and sovereigntism, or free market and state intervention. In turn, this Article shines further light on the ideological contests over how commerce would secure the foundations of peace between states that animated the conclusion of the GATT. By pointing to the conflicts that framed the origins of the GATT, this Article shows how future oriented projects of WTO reform cannot rest on simplistic characterizations of the history of postwar international trade regimes.