This book is a comprehensive and non-technical introduction to the institutional mechanics, economics, and politics of the world trading system as embodied in the WTO. The WTO is the primary organization through which member states will manage their trade relations. It is also the forum in which attempts will be made in the future to expand the coverage of multilateral rules to new policies such as competition (antitrust) law and investment regulations.

Understanding the reach and relevance of the organization is therefore important, and requires an interdisciplinary approach. Few countries allow unfettered market forces to determine the pattern and structure of trade and investment. Instead, governments develop policy in response to domestic political forces, taking into account likely reactions by trading partners. In discussing the WTO, the authors take a political economy-based approach that can explain these fundamental aspects of the 'real' world.

This in turn helps to explain the successes and failures of international co-operation in trade policy, the primacy of negotiated solutions, and the challenges facing the WTO in the years to come as further efforts are made to extend the reach of multilateral policy disciplines. Extensive references are made to the existing literature, and guides to further reading are provided at the end of each chapter.