Multilatéralisme et démocratie

This paper analyzes some difficulties that international economic law has to face and overcome today if it wants to ensure its long-term survival. The WTO was founded on multilateralism, that is, the idea that barriers to international trade and the conflict resolution process should receive global solutions involving the agreement of all states. But the realities of contemporary international economic relations give a completely different image. As a matter of fact, they reflect the new balance of power between nations and legal orders. The dramatic economic growth of China and India over the past three decades has continued to change the geostrategic basis and the legal culture of world trade. The idea that universal norms could be enforced in all legal orders around the world is also significantly weakened when some emergent and powerful countries claim their cultural differences. Could these changes present citizens with an opportunity to reappropriate the public space of the democratic debate about the legitimacy of international economic rules?