FORUM SHOPPING EVIDENCE IN THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: A SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF DISPUTES BETWEEN MEMBER STATES

Authors

  • Kenyth Alves de Freitas Fundação Getúlio Vargas
  • Bruno de Almeida Vilela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Rui Fernando Correia Ferreira Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • André Edson Ribeiro de Souza Aprigio Universidade do Minho

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19094/contextus.v17i1.33949

Keywords:

disputes, World Trade Organization (WTO), forum shopping, network analysis, globalization

Abstract

The intensification of trade between countries has led to the need to regulate the conduct of trading partners. The World Trade Organization (WTO) forum emerged with the mission of arbitrating these disputes and making trade fairer. However, many countries choose not to participate in this forum because of the financial and legal resources required to conduct the proceedings. The purpose of this research was to verify how the relations within the WTO were configurated in 2014. We identified the dichotomy between central and emerging countries through the concept of forum shopping. The most important actors in the network were shown to be the United States and the European Union, whereas small economies had low participation, especially African and Central American countries. Thus, this study shows that many WTO’s members do not use its forum, which allows inferring they choose regional forums due to the restriction of resources.

Author Biographies

Kenyth Alves de Freitas, Fundação Getúlio Vargas

Doutorando pela Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (EAESP)

Bruno de Almeida Vilela, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Doutorando pelo Centro de Pós-graduação e Pesquisa em Administração (CEPEAD)

Rui Fernando Correia Ferreira, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Doutorando pelo Centro de Pós-graduação e Pesquisa em Administração (CEPEAD)

André Edson Ribeiro de Souza Aprigio, Universidade do Minho

Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and International Relations, University of Minho, Portugal

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Published

2019-04-12

How to Cite

Freitas, K. A. de, Vilela, B. de A., Ferreira, R. F. C., & Aprigio, A. E. R. de S. (2019). FORUM SHOPPING EVIDENCE IN THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: A SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF DISPUTES BETWEEN MEMBER STATES. Contextus - Contemporary Journal of Economics and Management, 17(1), 175–194. https://doi.org/10.19094/contextus.v17i1.33949

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1: Jan/Apr 2019

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Articles

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