Redressing the Legitimacy Deficit within the World Trade Organization: The Aspect of External Transparency

The World Trade Organization (WTO or hereinafter 'Organization') has been facing serious legitimacy challenges since its very creation.

The legitimacy deficit mentioned, among other factors, is the consequence of the anti-democratic decision-making mechanism applied within the Organization. This anti-democratic nature of the decision-making system derives from the fact that representation exists only in a very narrow sense while organized civil society is excluded from deliberations completely.

In addition, accountability and judgment as from the affected become impossible due to the confidentiality of many political documents and the disinterest of national parliaments. These shortcomings encompass what has been popularly referred to in the academic literature as the issue of 'external transparency'.

The article argues that the external transparency issue within the Organization is a problem that needs a multi-level and multi-dimensional approach. Contrary to many unrealistic proposals in the academic literature, however, it endeavors to draw up an adequate and implementable external transparency reform proposal, which takes into consideration the realities and also the special characteristics of the WTO.