Governing the Court

International law and legal institutions have played §an increasingly significant role in contemporary §world politics. The most distinctive development is §the legalization of dispute settlement §mechanisms of global trading regimes. Due to the key §features of the legal system - clear §substantive/procedural rules and independent legal §bodies, the WTO DS system produces an efficiency §improvement, a utility enhancement, and a §distributive effect. By combining a statistical §analysis, case study, and game-theoretic analysis, §this study contributes to comprehensive and systemic §understanding of the WTO DS system. Given the §critical role of the WTO in managing contentious §disputes among the member states, this book can shed §light on how the organization should be revised to §become a more efficient, stable, and equitable §institution. This book is expected to be useful not §only to professionals in the field of §international relations, economics, and law, but §also to practitioners in global trade who needs to §understand the political and economic interactions §under the WTO.