Asymmetric Power Relations and International Trade Law: A Legal Analysis of Economic Partnership Agreements (Routledge Research in International Economic Law)

The book offers an analysis of the contradictions between theory and practice in the trading system.It contextualises the colonial legal structure and its impact on the peripheral countries and their participation and gain in the multilateral trading system. The book’s core argument effectively situates Economic Partnership Agreements in the ‘systemic’ asymmetry, which characterises the relationship between developed and developing countries in global trade.It applies the idea of asymmetry to the relationship between the core countries-the EU/USA and the peripheral countries (ACP)-in the GATT, multilaterally and in the EU-ACP trade relationship, bilaterally.The book identifies that core provisions in the WTO regime such as the special and differential treatment as well as GATT Article XXIV have not lived up to expectations.Underscoring the asymmetrical participation and dominant role of former colonial powers, the book demonstrates how, although trade is generally considered a catalyst