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The institutionalization of a parliamentary dimension of an intergovernmental organization: the WTO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2011

HILMAR ROMMETVEDT
HILMAR ROMMETVEDT*
Affiliation:
IRIS – International Research Institute of Stavanger
*
*Email: hilmar.rommetvedt@iris.no
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Abstract

The article analyses the development of a parliamentary dimension of the WTO from the first informal meetings of parliamentarians in 1996, via the adoption of Rules of Procedure for yearly Parliamentary Conferences on the WTO in 2004, to March 2011 when for the first time the Parliamentary Conference took place on the premises of the WTO. The author presents theoretical contributions that may explain why national parliamentarians engage in an intergovernmental organization such as the WTO. The development of the parliamentary dimension is related to the crumbling borderline between domestic and international affairs. Finally, the article raises a number of questions for further research, and for consideration among parliamentarians as well as in the WTO.

Type
Review Article
Information
World Trade Review , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 2011 , pp. 423 - 446
Copyright
Copyright © Hilmar Rommetvedt 2011

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