This thesis deals with the dispute settlement in international economic law. Specifically, it focuses on dispute settlement mechanism within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The aim of the thesis is to examine specific features and evolution of this mechanism and to look at its functioning through case analysis. As an object of the case analysis I chose to investigate cases which have been filed by or against People's Republic of China (China) since its accession in 2001. The accession of China to the WTO was entailed with some controversy and China is well known as a state which is rather not in favor of international adjudication. Therefore, I would like to discuss why this system is more appealing to China and which consequences it might have. The thesis is divided into four main parts which are further divided into chapters. The first part of the thesis explores evolution of the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO from its predecessor GATT 1947 and outlines main features of the dispute settlement proceedings. The second and the third parts of the thesis shift focus on China and provide a basis for the case analysis in the fourth part. The second part deals with specific circumstances of the accession of China to the WTO, while the third part looks at historical and cultural...

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / John M. Crespi / The EU is one of the world’s biggest importers of bananas and, as such, import policies enforced by this trade union are likely to have a great impact on major producers of bananas. Aiming to protect communitarian producers and exporters from selected ex-colonies of Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific and to honor previous agreements, the EU unified its import policy for bananas in 1993. This policy, known as the Common Market Organization for Bananas, generated one of the most controversial trade disputes in history. After several modifications of the original regime, in January 2006, the EU changed its import regime to satisfy a World Trade Organization mandate and to honor an agreement signed with the United States in 2000. This dissertation reviews the history of the trade disputes in the EU banana market and analyzes the effects that the new import regime will have on major suppliers. To do this, a theoretically-consistent demand system is estimated and then the calculated parameters are used to model the effects of the tariff-only import system in the EU banana market. Based on the results, producers surplus are estimated and Monte Carlo simulations are performed to do a sensitivity analysis of the results. In the demand estimation component, the EU market is modeled as a system containing four major suppliers using the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS). This estimation fills an important gap in literature regarding the lack of well-estimated demand elasticities of bananas in the EU. The EU banana market is then modeled based on a equilibrium displacement model framework. Results of this analysis are then used to calculate point estimates of producer surplus changes as a measure of the impact of the new import policy on banana suppliers. Monte Carlo simulations are based on parameter estimates obtained from the AIDS model. These simulations allowed not only sensitivity analysis but also probabilistic inferences about the statistical significance of the estimates obtained in the previous components. Results indicate that the hypothesis that the new import regime will not affect the major suppliers of the EU banana market cannot be rejected. This might indicate that the policy enforced by the Common Market Organization for Bananas and the current tariff-only import regime are statistically equivalent. In other words, the EU expertly enacted a tariff level that will leave much as status quo.

The necessity for a more adequate regulation of global trade relations (including support for the liberalization and development of international trade), in the context of the deepening globalization processes, requires a greater level of involvement of international economic organizations and more effective implementation of their activities. The primary purpose of the dissertation is to determine whether and how the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group have influenced the development of international trading system. The results of this thesis show that international organizations (primarily WTO and UNCTAD) during various stages of its development have been significantly affecting international trade growth mainly through the implementation of specific activities and measures related to a series of agreements and decisions. However, international organizations have had a divergent impact on international trade. The effectiveness of the implementation of specific activities and programs were depending on the political and economic situation of member countries, as well as the governments´ readiness and willingness to implement these measures. On the other hand, the effectiveness of realization of specific activities have been affected by either the internal weaknesses of the organizations, or the insufficient level of cooperation and coordination in the implementation of joint programs and measures aimed at international trade development.

Considering that the concept of sustainable development has a function of normative integration in international law, Article 31(3)(c) provides a legitimate basis of such systemic integration. At the same time, it displays the limitations of the harmonious solution drawn from its application because it works only within the rigid consent-based framework in which the referenced rules should be legal “rules” and should be “applicable in the relations between the parties.” International jurisprudence suggests supplemental elements to overleap the consensual limitations in the application of Article 31(3)(c): a generic term and the object and purpose of the treaty. These text-based and the object-and-purpose-based developmental interpretative techniques enable interpreters to consider legal rules that are not “any relevant rules of international law applicable in the relations between the parties” under Article 31(3)(c).

Tato diplomová práce popisuje současný stav lobbování v Evropské unii. Cílem práce je nalézt a popsat cesty, které zájmové skupiny mohou využít na podporu jejich postoje k problému. První část práce je teoretická a je zaměřena na definici lobbování, jeho legitimitu a úlohu, kterou hraje v rozhodovacím procesu EU. Stručně zmíněna je historie lobbování a zájmových skupin na evropské úrovni, s důrazem na reprezentaci obchodních zájmů. Dále jsou představeny hlavní instituce Evropské unie, protože porozumění jejich rozdílům je klíčové pro posouzení jejich významu pro lobbování. Následně jsou popsány rozdíly v lobbování dle institucí, se souhrnným srovnáním institucí podle teorie přístupu. Druhá část práce ukazuje, jak lobbování může ovlivnit politiku na případové studii týkající se trhu s banány v Evropě. Nejprve je popsána situace na trhu s banány, s důrazem na producenty a dovozce. Poté je uveden vývoj legislativy pro jednotný evropský trh s banány spolu se změnami, které byly učiněny v souladu s rozhodnutími WTO. Následně jsou analyzovány zájmy a lobbistické aktivity subjektů, kterých se spor týkal. Zhodnocení výsledků strategií, které je možno učinit s ohledem na to, že spor není ještě uzavřený, tvoří závěrečnou část práce.

The diploma thesis contains a detailed analysis of a trade dispute DS 291 in WTO between the United States of America and the European Union, from its causes to the proceeding and final solution.

This thesis presents an analysis of trends in world and foreign trade of Kazakhstan. It contains the main indicators characterizing the degree of product and geographic diversification of Kazakhstan's exports and imports. The thesis analyses the features, character and prospects of expansion of foreign economic relations of Kazakhstan, issues of strategic partnership, and trends shaping the model of the regional economy within the boundaries of the Eurasian Economic Space.

India, China and Indonesia are among the six largest and fastest growing economies in the world (BRIICS). Rich countries are still reluctant to accept the fact that developing countries are becoming stronger and that the balance of economic power is shifting. The international community therefore seeks to find the way how to deal with this situation and the answer is to involve developing countries in the international trade. The main objective of the WTO is to involve developing countries in world trade and to create better conditions for them. Therefore, in 2001, the Doha Development Agenda has commenced and its aim is to achieve the goals of the WTO. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the success of the Doha round and its prospects with the focus on the attitudes and interests of the major Asian economies, namely China, India and Indonesia.

The master´s thesis deals with the possibility of enforcing human rights through the instruments that are primarily used to pursue economic interests of the state, specifically illustrating these possibilities within the context of the World Trade Organization. The thesis presents the theoretical understanding of the concept of national interest and the relation between the economic and human rights interests of the state. It also focuses more closely on the relation between trade liberalization through the activities of the WTO and the protection of human rights. The thesis also describes the possibilities of pursuing human rights through already existing processes within the WTO, namely through the accession process, the trade policy review mechanism, trade agreements based on the Generalized System of Preferences and last but not least, the use of general exceptions and dispute settlement mechanism.

In the late 1990s an attempt got underway to develop a new paradigm for cultural development policy at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The fruit of these efforts was the adoption of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which entered into force in 2007. This binding international treaty has been welcomed for restoring a degree of cultural policy sovereignty to states against some of the pressures of contemporary globalisation, and celebrated for burying some of the political differences between North and South that had pulled UNESCO apart in the 1970s and 1980s. As an instrument with widespread political support the Convention on cultural diversity has also marked something of a landmark event in the more general controversies over the nature of contemporary cultural change and the role of cultural policy in the era of neoliberal globalisation. This thesis is a response to these developments over the last decade, based on a series of studies looking at the processes that led to the formation of the Convention and examining some of the effects of the new framework as they are becoming apparent in the first years following its adoption and entry into force. It looks in particular at the precise points of consensus between North and South that have been found in the new framework of cultural development, examining some of its measures and the way they are coming to feature - or not - in the work of international development agencies, policymakers and cultural industry stakeholders. These observations are developed through two main case studies looking at contemporary attempts at cultural policy reform in China and the Caribbean. The thesis also attempts to offer an alternative perspective to the legal and international relations analyses that have surrounded the Convention and its political controversies so far by approaching them within the framework of social and cultural theory, engaging in particular with recent claims about the transformation of culture into a 'resource' for trade and development in the new global economy. I argue that the new framework tends to conflate cultural rights and recognition with the right of the state to protect and promote activities that it deems worthy of recognition on cultural grounds: this has offered a welcome development to those that have come to have a privileged role to play in the contemporary concern to promote enterprise, production and trade in the knowledge-based economy of content and intellectual property creation, but it has also tended to weaken the position of others whose claims to cultural recognition are inseparable from demands which have little or no protagonism in this framework.