Światowy system handlu - istota i przyczyny rozwoju

The phenomenon of the world trading system is not easy to explain. It may be analyzed as an international regime. Its evolution reflects both deregulatory and regulatory tendencies in economic policy. Realistic and liberal theories of international relations do not offer convincing explanations why it was created in 1947 and why, since then, it has developed attracting new members and enlarging its scope of intervention. In the literature there are at least 4 different concepts explaining why the countries decided to limit their sovereignty and to subordinate their trade policy to the international regime: comparative advantage, Prisoner’s Dilemma, embedded liberalism, and enhanced credibility of government policy.