ABSTRACT
Globalization – and particularly the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO)1 in this process – has inspired controversy in both academic and popular circles among new member states of the global trading regime. Yet, studies of public opinion toward globalization are primarily conducted in democratic systems (Koehler 2001; Scheve and Slaughter 2001; Greven 2003; Hanson et al. 2005), even though most of the 34 countries that have joined the WTO since 1994 are either authoritarian regimes or very young democracies (see Appendix 6.1). Few detailed empirical studies of the dynamics of public opinion with respect to globalization have been conducted in non-democratic societies.
