The Failure of Special and Differential Treatment in International Trade: An Indication for Future WTO Rules

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianzhi Jin
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice DE JONGE

In 2005, Matthew Craven noted that “[t]he phenomenon of unequal treaties [has] largely evaporated as an issue from the domain of international law”. In Craven's opinion, international lawyers have demonstrated an “unwillingness to engage effectively with the problem of equality”. This paper argues that states have, in fact, addressed issues of inequity in recent treaty negotiations. When states have had to unite around common goals, various methods of according special and differential treatment have been used to address concerns about substantive equality. Drawing upon precedents from environmental law and international trade, this paper proposes the recognition of a principle of equality in treaty relations. It is suggested that the persistence of inequality should provide grounds for seeking the renegotiation of a treaty, and that a general principle in favour of remedying unacceptable levels of inequality should be applied to build flexibility and stability into treaty relationships.


Author(s):  
Avinash Dixit ◽  
Victor Norman
Keyword(s):  

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Boll ◽  
Tom Michels ◽  
Dieter Ferring ◽  
Sigrun-Heide Filipp

Despite its importance for basic and applied psychology, only a few longitudinal studies have examined whether parental differential treatment (PDT) is a persistent or a transient phenomenon, these studies being confined to childhood or adolescence. Based on latent state-trait theory, the present study identified the amount of variance in three dimensions of perceived PDT in middle adulthood attributable to stable interindividual differences (trait variance) and to intraindividual changes (state variance). At two occasions of measurement (2 years apart), 709 middle-aged adults rated how often they and a sibling currently received parental recognition, nurture, and demand to assume filial responsibility. Tests of latent state-trait models for these three dimensions of PDT by structural equation modeling revealed that trait variance represented the largest proportion of the systematic variance in all observed indicators of perceived maternal and paternal differential treatment. Yet there was a considerable increase in state variance for the dimension of differential parental demand for assuming responsibility. Results are discussed with respect to the conditions accounting for the high overall stability of actual and/or perceived PDT in adulthood, and different approaches for determining their role are proposed.


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