DEBATTE/ DEBATE Ten Years of the WTO: A Success Story of Global Governance MIKE MOORE T his year the World Trade Organization celebrates its 10th year of exist­ence. That celebration is also an opportunity to review and evaluate its place, progress and evolution. The wto is unique among the interna­tional institutions and plays a vital role in the international architecture. The wto is at the center of the debate about democracy because of its successes, not its failures. More and more countries want to participate. More and more people recognize that the wto matters. More actors – businesses, trade unions, church groups, environmentalists, develop­ment ngo s – want the multilateral system to reflect their causes and their concerns. The wto is not a»global government«; but it is a key forum in which governments cooperate globally. It is not a»world democracy« – in the sense of being a government of the world’s people – but it is the most democratic international body in existence today. It provides an an­swer to perhaps the central political question of our time, concerning how to manage a globalizing world when democracy remains rooted in the nation-state. In a way, the wto – together with an expanding web of other global treaties and agreements – is more interesting than a new layer of government. From trade to the environment, human rights to war crimes, the world is moving towards rules, not power, towards per­suasion, not coercion – a world of mutual respect, rights, and freedoms. Institutions for a»Free World« This looks like a brave new world, but its roots can be traced back over half a century. The generation that emerged from the devastation of the Second World War pledged»never again.« They dreamed of creating a new kind of global order based on common and universal values – of law, cooperation, shared prosperity, and individual rights. They launched the Marshall Plan, in which for the first time in modern history the victors rebuilt their former enemies – the opposite of what had happened under 12 Moore, WTO: A Success Story ipg 2/2005