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3 World Trade Rev. 3 (2004)

handle is hein.journals/wtradev3 and id is 1 raw text is: World Trade Review (2004), 3. 1, 3-26 Printed /n the United Kingdom © Brlan Hock/ng DOI: 10.10171S1474745604001600 Changing the terms of trade policy making: from the 'club' to the 'multistakeholder' modelt BRIAN HOCKING* Professor of International Relations, Coventry Business School, Coventry University Abstract: In the light of the events surrounding the Seattle Ministerial in December 1999 and the fate of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, increasing attention is being paid not only to the substance of trade policy but to the processes through which it is effected. Growing realization of the need to enhance transparency and legitimacy in trade policy decision-making is reflected in debates on the openness of the multilateral processes most obviously represented by the World Trade Organization. Somewhat less attention has been paid to ways in which national trade policy processes are adapting to these pressures. The article argues the need to redress the balance and suggests that it is possible to analyse the development of at least some national trade policy environments in terms of a shift from a 'club', through an 'adaptive club' to a 'multistakeholder' model. These are examined with specific reference to the development of the latter in the Canadian and European Union contexts. Alongside the intense debates on the substance of the trade agenda following the events surrounding the Seattle World Trade Organization ministerial in December 1999, are to be found those concerning the processes through which trade policy emerge. This reflects a growing recognition that these processes need to be adapted to an environment in which anti-trade liberalization constituencies have become increasingly vociferous and the consensus underpinning pro-trade liberalization arguments is crumbling. The changing character of the trade agenda has simply served to stress the significance of process. No longer can trade issues be dealt with as a brand of technocratic politics, insulated from the mainstream of political dialogue, a game for an elite operating behind closed doors, removed from prying eyes and the glare of publicity. Trade politics is being reconfigured and with it, the t The author gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance provided by a British Academy Research Grant and a Canadian Studies Research Grant in the preparation of this article. Thanks are also due to members of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, officials in DG Trade and representatives attending the EU DG Trade Civil Society Dialogue in Brussels. Several colleagues offered helpful advice, including Dominic Kelly and Steven McGuire, and I am grateful to the reviewers and members of the World Trade Review editorial board for their helpful suggestions. * Coventry Business School, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry CV1 5FB. Tel: +44(0)247688 8177. Fax: 44(0)247688 8679. Email: b.hocking@coventry.ac.uk

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