From Singapore to Cancun: Knowledge, Power and Hegemony in the Negotiation of Investment Rules at the WTO.

This paper examines the struggle at the World Trade Organization(WTO) over attempts to launch negotiations on a comprehensive set of rules regarding state treatment of foreign investors. The paper looks at the various attempts to push this agenda at WTO ministerial meetings starting with that in Singapore in 1996 and concluding with the September 2003 ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico where once again proponents will try to reach agreement to launch negotiations. The paper looks at why powerful proponents of such rules, in particular members such as the EC, Japan(and to a lesser extent the United States) and other developed country members (along with international business organizations) have had such difficulty in forging a consensus. Several factors are identified including: 1.The growing role and impact of developing country members in the WTO and the strong opposition of leading countries such as India 2. The erosion of the hegemony of the Washington consensus on trade and investment liberalization in the discourse around globalization and economic development. 3. The transnational campaign of opposition to the negotiation of investment rules at the WTO of a coalition of development, environmental and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Research material has been gathered via interviews with NGO representatives, officials of the WTO secretariat and national representatives to the Working Group on Trade and Investment at the WTO, established in 1997 as a compromise to study the issues surrounding investment rules after the Singapore ministerial meeting. In addition the submissions, minutes and reports of the Working Group for the last six years have been analyzed. Finally the dynamics of the discussions among WTO members, and the NGO campaing at the Cancun ministerial, where this issue is expected to generate major conflicts, will be examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]