PYQ Vault · Paper 2 · Evolution of the International Economic System
Critically evaluate the role of the United States of America in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism and its implications for the future of the WTO.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
panel — standing Appellate Body of 7, minimum 3 to hear a case — Gilpin: rules- based regime lends predictability, discourages trade wars — but US backing conditional from birth (Uruguay Round: pressing others on farm subsidies while holding Super 301 in reserve) → reservation becomes policy – US claim: Body strayed beyond the DSU on its anti-dumping / countervailing measures — appointments blocked + funding cut, December 2019 — Body down to one member, appeals dead → Ravi Kanth: a working court obstructed US unilateralism – Weiler: legitimacy crisis → compliance incentive falls — drift to CPTPP / RCEP – Stiglitz: fragmentation, rule-setting eroded
Body flow
US grievance not baseless: members failed to write new rules (Chinese state subsidies in steel, technology), so adjudication filled a gap negotiation left — but Deepak: the imperfect mechanism still curbed unfair trade practices
Counter-view
ri India-EU repair: restore the appellate tier, bar unilateral measures, centre reform on development R2 left unrepaired, the WTO drifts back toward the GATT it replaced, and the predictability Washington itself once sought goes with it
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
