Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (March 1, 2006) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Government procurement is a very important aspect of international tradeas it can either promote or inhibit trade depending on laws and policies of a country. The study is confined to issues pertaining to the role of RTAs in establishing government procurement standards that resemble or conform to those of the GPA in developing countries. The study used Africa as a case study by evaluating selected RTAs that have been signed focussing on RTAs such as the procurementinitiativeof the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement. The major objectives of the study were to examine the role of the existing international regulatory instruments towards the harmonisation of global standards on government procurement. The reserach aimed at analysing the role of the WTOs GPA as a possible global standard for government procurement and to investigate reasons of limited membership by developing countries.</p>

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 157 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-127).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 193 p. : ill. (some col.), maps. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-159).

published_or_final_version / Urban Studies / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

The issue of tensions between market access and environmental protection is relatively new focus in the domain of international trade. This article suggests solutions to this conflict within the WTO framework so that while pursuing the goals of free trade and promoting development of economy the objective of 'sustainable development' can be achieved at the same time. This article includes an introduction, the main body (three chapters) and conclusion. j The Introduction starts by describing the development of the regimes of market access and environmental protection; it goes on to analyze the causes of the tension between the two and finally emphasizes the importance of resolving this tension within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. Chapter One elaborates on the existing principles, regulations and exception in the WTO framework and states that these regulations cannot live up to expectations of the developed countries and environmentalists. The conclusion is that it is impractical for the developing countries to avoid this issue. Chapter Two starts with an inquiry into the crux of tensions between free trade and environmental protection. It goes on to enlist different proposals by academic scholars and compare these principles' application in European Community Treaty (EC) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), hoping to resolve the tensions between market access and environmental protection. Chapter Three summarizes academic proposals and experiences of EC and NAFTA and discusses possible practical resolutions within WTO including both short-term measures and long-term ones. This chapter concludes by suggesting possible courses of action for China that could allow it to sustain the 'green challenge.' The Conclusion discusses the objectivity and unavoidability of the tensions between the free trade and the environment protection and reinforces the importance of resolving the problem within the WTO framework as well as the necessity of amending related regulations and harmonizing environmental standards of the WTO members.

The World Trade Organization was created to promote free trade and govern multilateral trade agreements as a fair and non-discriminating body. Literature on participation challenges this assumption of partiality and suggests the presence of a bias within the organization’s dispute settlement system. Previous studies have proven that the fear of retaliation is the most decisive factor when considering litigation. Other studies have suggested that sizeable expected benefits from dispute settlement have a greater impact on participation. Given the emergence of new members such as China, Ukraine and Taiwan these results are subject to change. In order to test the suggested hypotheses, a new dataset ranging from 2001-2010 was build to account for some of the changing trends in participation. While the results from the sector specific analysis failed to provide significant support for fear of retaliation, they showed evidence that expected returns motivate the initiation of litigations. Findings also suggest that members, heavily dependent on agriculture, are more likely to join agri-food cases as third parties. This study will provide, through the analysis of agri-food cases, valuable insights on the changes in the behavior of participants over the last decade.