ABSTRACT
The WTO negotiations are led by representatives of the WTO member countries representatives and facilitated by the WTO staff. These two groups comprise what we call the participatory subsystem. The country representatives are at the core of the GATS negotiations matrix since only they are authorized to make political decisions. They interact continuously with trade negotiators from other countries, as well as with members of the WTO Secretariat, with international civil society organizations and with their own national representative subsystems. So, to enhance our understanding of the education liberalization process under the GATS, the country representatives’ views and beliefs must be examined in-depth. Precisely, this is one of the main objectives of this chapter. Specifi cally, the chapter explores the views of the trade negotiators and the WTO staff on the GATS and education issue and examines how these stakeholders interact and exchange ideas with other representative subsystems, mainly civil society organizations.
