Singh, Amit, and Tara, Prerna  <br/><br/>
A critical analysis of the developing countries participation in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism 

 - Journal of The Indian Law Institute  
 - 61(3), Jul-Sep, 2019: p.323-349 
<br/><br/> Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is often regarded as one of the most significant accomplishments of the multilateral trading framework. Many trust that the WTO DSM has presented more noteworthy “legalism” and gives a more “rule oriented” framework in respect to the “power oriented” structures. The rule- based approach adopted by WTO for the adjudication is a theoretical initiative by the WTO although the same cannot be guaranteed in practice as well. Various implementation problems are created for developing countries that are caused by their lack of institutional capacity and by their problems in accessing knowledge. The dispute resolution system adopted by WTO has to be studied and discrepancies have to be looked into, if any; when developing nations take recourse of the same. The objective behind the study is to have a foresighted view of the power that developed and developing nations have/exert and how it results in having an impact on the decision making in trade disputes at an international front with the help of various case studies. Three-fourth of the WTO members are developing and least–developed countries. Hence, a study done in the developing nation’s perspective is of great importance for the proper working of the WTO itself. The dispute settlement mechanism being one of the main endeavours of the WTO whereby it aids in settling disputes and reducing trade related tensions among the participant nations which could be developed, developing or least developing nations. Dispute settlement is sometimes described as the jewel in the WTO’s crown. It’s the central pillar of the multilateral trading system and a unique contribution to the stability of the economy globally. WTO dispute settlement focuses countries’ attention on the rules. Once a verdict has been announced, countries concentrate on complying with the rules, and perhaps later renegotiating them rather than declaring war on each other. Another interesting observation being that presently, developing nations are more active in the WTO disputes as per the information given on their website, although more participation does not guarantee that it shall surely lead to benefit for the developing nations as well. The scrutiny of the dispute settlement mechanism shall be done where by the objective shall be to result in the optimum performance of the settlement mechanism resulting in ideal adjudication. – Reproduced