ABSTRACT

This introduction chapter gives an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. This book presents a thesis that the understanding of the global trade regime will be greatly enhanced if more attention is devoted to the "other" trade-related institutions and their relationship to the GATTAVTO. It systematically traces the changing role in the global trade regime only of the G7/G8, the Quad, and the OECD. This chapter explains why the focus is primarily on these three institutions, and provides a general background discussion of the relationship of the GATT/WTO to other institutions in the global trade regime. The book broadens the discussion of pyramidal structure to examine the relationship among several formal and informal institutions in the global trade regime. It points to several institutions that GATTAVTO members have turned to for trade-related issues because they are less demanding and less rule-oriented than the GATT/WTO.