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Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (hereafter referred to as the GATT) emerged in the aftermath of World War II and, despite the initial intention that it would serve as a mere interim arrangement while the administrative framework of the International Trade Organisation was finalised,...

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Main Author: Rachwal, Natasha
Other Authors: Ismail, Faizel
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Private Law 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author Rachwal, Natasha
author2 Ismail, Faizel
author_browse Ismail, Faizel
Rachwal, Natasha
author_facet Ismail, Faizel
Rachwal, Natasha
author_sort Rachwal, Natasha
collection Thesis
description The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (hereafter referred to as the GATT) emerged in the aftermath of World War II and, despite the initial intention that it would serve as a mere interim arrangement while the administrative framework of the International Trade Organisation was finalised, the GATT would proceed to guide the course of multilateral trade throughout the twentieth century. What is often overlooked in mainstream analyses of the key principles underpinning the liberal international economic order is the significance of the negotiating history of the GATT which was dominated by two main participants, the United States and the United Kingdom. These parties experienced very different growth trajectories following World War II and so sought to advance different national interests within the negotiating forum. Briefly, while the United States was benefitting from an unprecedented increase in its economic and political power and wanted to see greater market access for its domestic industries, the United Kingdom was undergoing a difficult period of recovery and wanted to consolidate its system of imperial preferences. Nevertheless, because neither could unilaterally dominate the international policy space and because both recognised the value in promoting free trade for international political stability, they would ultimately reach a negotiated compromise resulting in the final codification of the GATT. In adopting a historical and textual methodology, this dissertation will argue that, in order to gain a more nuanced understanding of the principles underlying the GATT, one ought to examine the complexities of the negotiations leading up to its final codification, including the domestic interests advanced by the negotiating parties as well as contemporary hegemonic power dynamics.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Department of Private Law
publisherStr Department of Private Law
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32940 Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT Rachwal, Natasha Ismail, Faizel private law The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (hereafter referred to as the GATT) emerged in the aftermath of World War II and, despite the initial intention that it would serve as a mere interim arrangement while the administrative framework of the International Trade Organisation was finalised, the GATT would proceed to guide the course of multilateral trade throughout the twentieth century. What is often overlooked in mainstream analyses of the key principles underpinning the liberal international economic order is the significance of the negotiating history of the GATT which was dominated by two main participants, the United States and the United Kingdom. These parties experienced very different growth trajectories following World War II and so sought to advance different national interests within the negotiating forum. Briefly, while the United States was benefitting from an unprecedented increase in its economic and political power and wanted to see greater market access for its domestic industries, the United Kingdom was undergoing a difficult period of recovery and wanted to consolidate its system of imperial preferences. Nevertheless, because neither could unilaterally dominate the international policy space and because both recognised the value in promoting free trade for international political stability, they would ultimately reach a negotiated compromise resulting in the final codification of the GATT. In adopting a historical and textual methodology, this dissertation will argue that, in order to gain a more nuanced understanding of the principles underlying the GATT, one ought to examine the complexities of the negotiations leading up to its final codification, including the domestic interests advanced by the negotiating parties as well as contemporary hegemonic power dynamics. 2021-02-23T11:39:42Z 2021-02-23T11:39:42Z 2020 2021-02-23T11:35:11Z Master Thesis Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32940 eng application/pdf Department of Private Law Faculty of Law
spellingShingle private law
Rachwal, Natasha
Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT
title_full Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT
title_fullStr Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT
title_full_unstemmed Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT
title_short Competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the GATT: an analysis of how the United States and United Kingdom's competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the GATT
title_sort competing hegemonic powers in the negotiating history of the gatt an analysis of how the united states and united kingdom s competing visions of the proposed multilateral trading regime influenced the final codification of the gatt
topic private law
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32940
work_keys_str_mv AT rachwalnatasha competinghegemonicpowersinthenegotiatinghistoryofthegattananalysisofhowtheunitedstatesandunitedkingdomscompetingvisionsoftheproposedmultilateraltradingregimeinfluencedthefinalcodificationofthegatt