National Sovereignty in the World Trading System: Labor, Environment, and the WTO

The "Battle in Seattle" is now behind us. But the war against globalization and the World Trade organization (WTO) continues. This war pits supporters of national sovereignty against forces of globalization, on whose side the WTO is said to be firmly aligned. Indeed, the December 1999 WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle collapsed largely over disagreements relating to issues of national sovereignty, and in particular over the concern voiced by labor and environnmental groups that the WTO has become so powerful that it now overrides the will of its member nations.