Among the specific issues researched and analysed here are:
- the U.S.-led return to a unilateralist and interventionist approach to global problems;
- the importance of the rules-based WTO system to developing nations as a crucial alternative to power politics;
- the failure to achieve enhanced access to developed world markets for agricultural products, textiles, clothing, and footwear;
- the relevance of GATS and TRIPS to the developing world;
- internal WTO governance issues, including the important role of the Secretariat as negotiator and mediator;
- the implementation phase of the dispute settlement understanding;
- the continuing resistance to linking trade and environment;
- the place of human rights in the international trading system; and
- the likely impact of the double scourge of AIDS and terrorism on flows of trade, capital, people, and knowledge.