While international trade agreements can provide a number of important economic and other benefits, from a democracy perspective, the continued strengthening of undemocratic international trade decision- making is troubling. Failures to democratize trade decision-making are troubling because these failures squander an important opportunity to further the recognition of democratic principles in undemocratic nations. These democratic failures also undermine the role of democracy in already democratic nations. Strengthening undemocratic trade decision-making also serves as an obstacle to the wider development of democracy within international relations, institutions, and law. Part III of this article examines the negative effects of the undemocratic nature of international trade decision-making.
The serious detrimental effects caused by the lack of democratic processes in international trade decision-making require that the international trade decision-making system must be “democratized.” Part IV of this article provides a prescription for democratizing the international trading system while preserving the important benefits the system provides.