This study makes an analysis on the modernization process across the Taiwan Straits by taking the garment industry as an example and probes into the background factors of modernization, key points of economic development at different stages, and the non-government exchange as well as economic and trade interaction between both sides of the Straits after Taiwan announced the policy of open-up to allow its citizens to visit their relatives in Mainland China. This article focuses on the analysis of the effects of investments made by the Taiwanese garment businessmen in Mainland China, which promote the transit trade and export of textile materials from Taiwan to Mainland China. After the garment industry of Mainland China becomes prosperous, the production of textile materials is insufficient to meet the demand of the garment industry. Consequently, a huge market is formed to attract the investments of Taiwanese textile industry in China, which not only benefits the textile industry of Taiwan, but also promotes the economic cooperation of both sides of the Taiwan Straits. It is possible that economic cooperation between Taiwan and Mainland China in manufacturing industries such as garment industry, etc. may ¡§spill-over¡¨ to direct ¡§three-links¡¨ between both sides of the Taiwan Straits. This in turn promotes the division of labor in the garment industry across the Straits and expand the bilateral trade and possible political interaction.

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Univ., Diss.--Saarbrücken, 2006. / Literaturverz. S. 247 - 261.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stockholm University, 2005. / Additional loose-leaf abstract of thesis inserted. "June 2005". Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Global Affairs." Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-161).

Thesis (LL. M.)--York University, 2000. / "Graduate Programme in Law." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-142). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ59173.

Masteropgave. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

This thesis focuses on the topic ‘The World Trade Organisation and Food Insecurity in the South: Prospects for the ECOWAS sub-region'. It is cast against the background of the prevailing global food crisis which is generally accepted as having assumed monumental dimensions in sub-Saharan Africa where a total of over 150 million people are said to be under the direct threat of hunger and starvation. The study appraises the mainstream understanding of the root causes of the on-going food crisis, the policies prescribed for their resolution as well as the efficacy of the neo-liberal multilateral institutional frameworks from within which these are currently being deployed. The global and regional multilateral institutions of reference here are the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) respectively. The study contends that the hegemonic narrative is severely limited; that the perspective which drives it suffers from some highly virulent blind-spots on the critical questions of history and the structural notions of power – notions which go to the very heart of the contemporary structuring of the global food system, and which, in the case of West Africa, is assuring the privileged access of some classes to food and food-producing resources whilst excluding the bulk of the class of the majority. Consequently, from a macro-historical qualitative perspective, the study develops and deploys an alternative conceptual framework from within which it appraises the regional agricultural and related trade policies of the member states of the ECOWAS which were developed in response to the neoliberal regimes of the WTO. With the reality of third world structural dependency as a point of departure, and situating this within the theoretical framework of Robert W. Cox and the tenets of Dependency theory, the study poses the question of whether and/or how, in the specific instance of West Africa, the framing of the region’s food and agricultural policies, couched as they have been in conformity to the broader context of the regimes of the WTO, has resulted in the aggravation of insecurity in food production and consumption. Pursuant to investigating this question, the study finds that as adherence by the member states of the ECOWAS to the rules of the WTO Agreements in particular and the dictates of neoliberal economic agenda in general intensifies, regional food and agricultural development strategies of the region have invariably proven incapable of overcoming the logic of structural capitalist dependency. Rather, as the ECOWAP achieves coincidence with the regimes of the WTO, those exact material conditions that stymie the prospects for structural transformation of the agrarian economy in the West African sub-region are being reinforced. The exacerbation of the associated problems of agricultural productivity decline, as well as the concomitant loss of household and national incomes is effectively putting even the food that is available both in the local and international markets well beyond the reach of the bulk of the poverty stricken majority of the people of Western Africa.

China's policy makers see international standards as a barrier to their country's economic development, more importantly, as an offence to the country's national pride. This belief has been reinforced by the view that multi-national companies have used international standards to force developing countries to deprive them of the ability to enter the international markets by forcing them to pay high royalty rates, due to the patents incorporated in these standards. Moreover, these standards, as they believe, have been created at international standards setting platforms dominated by multi-national companies and developed countries. In return, China has launched several initiatives to create home-made Chinese standards free from patent claims of these companies. China's home-madestandards, some of which differ significantly from international standards, also reportedly serve to protection of its domestic market. China's accession to the WTO was formally approved in November 2001 and China became the WTO's 143rd member on December 11, 2001. WTO membership opened a new era for China. In spite of the international expectations for removal of all trade protection mechanisms which are incompatible with the international trade regime, China is reported to have sought to reform its policies by employing new strategies concerning IPR and standards. The thesis of this report is that China has not diverged significantly from developing home-made Chinese standards after the country’s entry into the WTO, but Chinese authorities have adopted more flexible strategies to implement this policy. Accordingly, this report is about change in policy strategies. I argue that China has continued to enforce its own will upon foreign companies with a strong self-confidence stemming from its ability to negotiate on unequal terms with foreign companies, owing to its sheer market size. However, China's new strategies have been shaped by weak coordination and disagreement among government agencies and institutions. To illustrate the potential explanatory power of this account, I have examined two important home-made standards initiatives by China; Wireless Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) and Audio Video Coding Standards (AVS). From the examination of the WAPI and AVS cases, I conclude that China's strategies have continued to evolve through disagreements and negotiations between Chinese government institutions within policy boundaries set by China's WTO membership and increasing international criticism. / text

This thesis intends to provide an argument in favour of private participation in the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an area of the world trading system most visible to but also most removed from the influence of private actors. Private participation is understood as the direct and formal involvement of non-governmental actors in dispute resolution. It will distinguish between passive and active participation, the former addressing the flow of information from the WTO to civil society (understood as the community of all Member societies affected by the world trading system), while the later is concerned with issues of access and standing. As first step, I will develop an analytical framework for international dispute settlement systems based on the three elements of actors, material scope and procedures, as well as the underlying theoretical conceptions for each element. After having given an overview of the relevant features of the world trading system and its dispute resolutions mechanisms as set forth in the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU) of the WTO, I continue by subsuming the DSU under the analytical framework. Based on the position of the DSU within the analytical framework, I will submit an argument in favour of private participation, drawing particularly from the international relations theory of liberalism. Parting from realist-institutionalist assumptions predominant in public international law, liberalism places the individual at the center of international and WTO law, opening the latter for new categories of international actors. Finally, taking into account the liberal reliance on individual rights and democratic participation, I will suggest models to implement private participation in WTO dispute settlement. My aim is to promote meaningful involvement of private actors whose interests and objectives are affected by the world trading system, with varying procedural roles reflecting their relation to the WTO's trade regime, ranging form passive participation, to party status, to amici curiae.