Bringing an Elephant into the Room: Small African State Diplomacy in the WTO

Abstract

Small state diplomacy is increasingly relevant to multilateral trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is because small developing states have come to play an increasingly active and vociferous part in WTO negotiations, especially during the current Doha Round of talks. Indeed, developing country activism has been a major factor in the ongoing delay in concluding the Doha Round.1 Several of the very active developing countries are small states. This suggests that small states are now beginning to play a key role in WTO negotiations and contrasts with the conclusions of a recent study of small states in the WTO which claims they remain marginal, vulnerable and weak (Grynberg, 2006).