Building Coalitions and Consensus in the WTO.

Developing country coalitions have emerged as a critical element of the consensus-building process in the WTO. Although collective action is not new, what is striking about today's country groupings is their unprecedented proliferation and institutionalisation since the establishment of the WTO in 1995 and the launch of the Doha Round in 2001. Coalition building has now become an integral part of the governance of the multilateral trading system. Member states and the WTO Secretariat have increasingly moved to include coalitions in decision-making processes, recognising their function as platforms for the representation of 'country constituencies'. This article examines the relationship between informal group processes and the shifting institutional dynamics of the WTO. First, I argue that the pooling of bargaining resources has improved the technical and lobbying capacity of developing countries in negotiations. Second, whereas previously only a handful of developing countries were included in the agenda-setting activities of the GATT, coalition strategies of communication and information dissemination have modified the internal transparency of inner-circle negotiations, in particular those in the 'green room'. Third, while the proliferation of coalition building has narrowed the participation gap in the informal processes of the WTO, it has also brought with it a new set of accountability issues concerning mechanisms of delegation and joint-representation. Finally, I highlight the implications these changing patterns of member state relations have on our understanding of governance, legitimacy and accountability in international organizations. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]