When litigation turns into trade liberalization: judicialization in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and trade liberalization by the European Union.

The research project's primary aim is to account for existing differences in the extent to which WTO members react to legal challenges brought forward by their trade partners through the activation of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Mechanism. A theoretical framework is developed to explain why and how in certain cases these states accommodate external demands while in other ones they stick to their policy position. Empirically, the research project employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze cases in which the dispute settlement mechanism was activated against the EU since the creation of the WTO in 1995.

Keywords:WTO, LIBERALISATION, JUDICIALIZATION, LEGALIZATION

Disciplines:Other economics and business, Law, Citizenship, immigration and political inequality, International and comparative politics, Multilevel governance, National politics, Political behaviour, Political organisations and institutions, Political theory and methodology, Public administration, Other political science