Participating in the Governance of Trade : The GATT, UNCTAD, and WTO

Developing states have collaborated to advance their interests in a trading system characterized by economic inequality throughout the histories of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).1 In April 2004, Brazil, Benin, and Chad won a preliminary ruling against the United States in a WTO dispute over U.S. cotton subsidies (Becker and Benson 2004). While the ultimate conclusion of this dispute has yet to be determined, it is a notable case of a new approach to advancing the interests of less powerful elements of the world economy within the WTO framework, and not in opposition to it. It was the first one brought by developing countries against a developed country’s domestic subsidy program. The case was initiated by Brazil, a country with the necessary financial resources to prosecute it, but it was strengthened by the addition of the two African countries, each lacking such resources on its own. The complaint against farm subsidies originated with Brazilian civil society (specifically, soybean farmers), but it was conducted through formal representatives of the Brazilian state at the WTO. In the past, developing states have forged common policy proposals at regional and Group of 77 (G77) meetings and then argued the merits and demerits of such programs at UNCTAD conferences. At other times, they have sought preferential access grouped by former colonial status outside