Abstract
The thrust of this research centres on the inadequate participation of African countries in the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Using the US upland cotton dispute initiated by Brazil as a case study, the author investigates four leading West African cotton exporters – Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali – the 'Cotton 4'. While Benin and Chad participated in the dispute as third parties, Burkina Faso and Mali were noticeably absent, despite their joint criticism of cotton subsidies in the sectoral initiatives on cotton delivered by the group at two WTO ministerial meetings. The author attempts to ascertain the rationale for African countries' decisions to participate in disputes or to 'free ride' within the international trade arena, arguing that the incentives or disincentives affecting these decisions stem from the inability to retaliate against developed countries under the WTO dispute settlement understanding (DSU); financial and technical limitations in accessing the DSU; disproportionately heavy reliance on principal trading relationships; and other socio-political and economic considerations.
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