Developing countries and trade negotiations: Lessons from Argentina's participation in the Doha Round

ZELICOVICH, JULIETA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; FLACSO-ISA Joint International Conference - Global and Regional Powers in a Changing World; 2014

International Studies Asociation y FLACSO

The Doha Round negotiations (2001-2011) have been one of the most complex negotiations in international trade relations of the early twenty-first century. These 10 years have shown the changes from an illusion about the promise of a development-focused agenda, to the establishment of limits, as the asymmetries of the multilateral level have been reconfigured. In those years the roles of the actors involved in the negotiations have been re-defined. The learning processes consequence of previous negotiations, have allowed developing countries generate new participation mechanisms. In certain cases such activism has resulted in an increase in the effectiveness of their participation, and thus in their influence. Based on the theoretical approach of Robert Putnam, in this paper we analyze the case of Argentina´s participation in the Doha negotiations of industrial and agricultural issues. It is shown how these negotiations were set as a negotiation of multiple levels (National Bureau, Mercosur, Coalitions, International Bureau) and how Argentina has been able to generate positive synergies between these groups, becoming an influential player in the outcome of various key moments of the negotiating process