ABSTRACT
The creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has reflected and reinforced an important structural shift, in the face of large-scale globalization, from statist to postsovereign governance. At the close of the twentieth century, regulatory activities are no longer always centred on or subordinated to the state. Instead, much governance has become spread across a host of substate (such as municipal and provincial authorities), state and suprastate (regional and transworld) institutions, as well as a number of private organizations such as credit-rating agencies and foundations. None of these sites of authority holds a clear, complete and consistent primacy over the others.2
