ABSTRACT
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is an unusual international organisation. Most international organisations, in the words of Harold Jacobson are: institutional structure created by agreement among two or more sovereign states for the conduct of regular political interactions. The WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding goes some distance to avoid the appearance of multilateral trade rules being enforced on individual countries by a political organ of an international organisation. The WTO was an unintended by-product of the Uruguay Round negotiation. It was not included in the negotiating mandate of the Uruguay Round established in the Ministerial Meeting at Punta del Este in 1986. The WTO was created in the early 1990s as a component of the Uruguay Round negotiation. The difference between a rules-first vs. organisation-first political structure can be appreciated by comparing the provisions of the International Trade Organisation and WTO on dispute settlement, which is a critical function in the application of rules in any political system.
