The International Rule of Law, Transparency and the International Trading System. Inferences from Subsidies and SOEs Trade Disciplines

Abstract

The present study first investigates the existence and the meaning of the international rule of law and then, after discussing the logic of transparency in general and in the international trading system, focuses on State intervention in markets and the related trade rules, particularly those regulating subsidies and the operation of SOEs. These two peculiar case studies are, indeed, rather telling. The quantitative and qualitative transformations of modern state capitalism around the globe raise issues of increasing importance for the international trading system: it is no secret that State interventions in the market stand out among the stated and unstated causes of current trade tensions. Moreover, both the issues of subsides and SOEs are essentially political and ideological: with the two instruments, what is ultimately involved is a confrontation between different philosophical and political conceptions of the relations between the state, market, and society; i.e. the normative social ethos shaping the role of law in the international trading system.