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Overlap Management in the World Trade Organization: Secretariat Influence on Trade-Environment Politics

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  • Sikina Jinnah

    (Sikina Jinnah is Assistant Professor of International Relations at American University. She received her PhD from U.C. Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, and did her postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. She has published articles in Science Magazine, Environmental Research Letters, and the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review.)

Abstract

This article builds on recent scholarship that explores the nature of secretariat influence in global governance. By combining data from interviews with WTO delegates and secretariat staff with document analysis, this study examines how the WTO secretariat is shaping trade-environment politics by using its bureaucratic authority to influence overlap management in the WTO. This study argues that secretariat influence is present, but varies in form across cases. It shows up in the forms noted by previous scholars in their examinations of UNEP secretariats (i.e. negotiation-facilitation, capacity building, and knowledge-brokering), but also in previously un-discussed forms of influence such as marketing convention norms, and litigation facilitation. It further argues that secretariat influence matters in that the WTO secretariat plays an important role in shaping the way trade-environment issues evolve within the WTO, shaping its own identity as a hybrid administrative-judicial organ, as well as in enhancing WTO legitimacy with the broader public. (c) 2010 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Sikina Jinnah, 2010. "Overlap Management in the World Trade Organization: Secretariat Influence on Trade-Environment Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 10(2), pages 54-79, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:10:y:2010:i:2:p:54-79
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    Cited by:

    1. Nina Kolleck & Mareike Well & Severin Sperzel & Helge Jörgens, 2017. "The Power of Social Networks: How the UNFCCC Secretariat Creates Momentum for Climate Education," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 17(4), pages 106-126, November.
    2. Ronald Mitchell, 2013. "Oran Young and international institutions," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Avidan Kent, 2014. "Implementing the principle of policy integration: institutional interplay and the role of international organizations," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 203-224, September.
    4. Tana Johnson, 2015. "Information revelation and structural supremacy: The World Trade Organization’s incorporation of environmental policy," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 207-229, June.
    5. Joshua Philipp Elsässer & Thomas Hickmann & Sikina Jinnah & Sebastian Oberthür & Thijs Graaf, 2022. "Institutional interplay in global environmental governance: lessons learned and future research," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 373-391, June.
    6. Tobias Böhmelt & Gabriele Spilker, 2016. "The interaction of international institutions from a social network perspective," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 67-89, February.
    7. Barbara Saerbeck & Mareike Well & Helge Jörgens & Alexandra Goritz & Nina Kolleck, 2020. "Brokering Climate Action: The UNFCCC Secretariat Between Parties and Nonparty Stakeholders," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(2), pages 105-127, May.

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