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Exploring the Causes for Change in Regional Third Party Dispute Settlement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2015

JEANINE BEZUIJEN
JEANINE BEZUIJEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Email: j.bezuijen@vu.nl
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Abstract

What explains change in third party dispute settlement in regional international organizations (RIOs)? This paper confronts this question by exploring the extent to which different explanations of institutional change hold in the context of trade RIO third party dispute settlement. The paper considers the role of three variables in explaining dispute settlement reform: the balance of power, the level of trade interdependence between member states and the nature of the organization's founding contract. A truth table reveals that although power and trade interdependence can explain some cases of institutional reform, the nature of the organization's founding contract is the strongest predictor for change in dispute settlement. Nevertheless, the analysis shows that not all cases can be explained, and that the influence of other institutions on the same issue can also play an important role. A case study of the Latin American Free Trade Association illustrates the importance of the institutional environment in which the RIO operates for institutional reform.

Type
Review Article
Information
World Trade Review , Volume 14 , Special Issue S1: Judicial Politics in International Trade Relations , July 2015 , pp. S59 - S81
Copyright
Copyright © Jeanine Bezuijen 2015 

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