SJD Dissertation
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The Making of International Trade Law: Sugar, Development, and International Institutions by Michael Fakhri A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science Faculty of Law University of Toronto © Copyright by Michael Fakhri 2011 The Making of International Trade Law: Sugar, Development and International Institutions Michael Fakhri Doctor of Juridical Science School of Law University of Toronto 2011 Abstract This historical study focuses on the multilateral regulation of sugar to provide a broader institutional history of trade law. I argue that theories of development and tensions between the global North and South have always been central to the formation, function, and transformation of international trade institutions. Sugar consistently appears as a commodity throughout the history of modern trade law. The sugar trade provides an immediate way for us to work through larger questions of development, free trade, and economic world order. I examine the 1902 Brussels Sugar Convention, the 1937 International Sugar Agreement (ISA), and the 1977 ISA. These international agreements provide a narrative of the development ideas and concerns that were a central feature of the trade institutions that preceded the World Trade Organization. In the context of the sugar trade over the last century, very few challenged the idea of free trade. Instead, they debated over what free trade meant. The justification for free trade and the function of those international institutions charged to implement trade agreements has changed throughout history. Yet, despite multiple historical and doctrinal definitions of free trade, two dynamics remain consistent: trade law has always been configured by the relationship between policies of tariff reduction and market stabilization and has been defined by the tension between industrial and agricultural interests. ii For my grandparents, Petro Mitri Hajj and Nohad Fouad Hajj (née Chidiac) – I am still learning how to articulate everything they taught me. iii Acknowledgments This dissertation is the product of the love and support of scores of people over the last years. My friend Aaron Dhir has been immensely encouraging. My conversations with members and fellow travelers involved with the Toronto Group for the Study of International, Transnational, and Comparative Law have been most enriching: Amaya Alvez Marin, Mark Bennett, Amar Bhatia, Irina Ceric, Patricia Ferreira, Ummni Khan, Derek McKee, Ladan Mehranvar, Claire Mumme, Michael Nesbitt, Zoran Oklopcic, Umut Özsu, Carolina S. Ruiz Austria, Kim Stanton, Mai Taha, and Sujith Xavier. I’ve also been lucky for the number of friends I made through the Collaborative Urban Research Laboratory at Osgoode Hall Law School, Brown International Advanced Research Institute, and the Institute for Global Law & Policy at Harvard Law School. I am also grateful for Rajeev Ruparell’s generosity. A great thanks to the faculty members at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School who provided me with advice, guidance, and critique. Josée Johnston’s course on sociology and food at the University of Toronto was truly the hook I needed to figure out what I wanted to do. Andrew Green and David Schneiderman have provided excellent guidance and helped me focus my dissertation. Karen Knop has supported this project from its earliest stages. I am most indebted for the intellectual home provided by TWAIL scholars far and wide – especially for the encouragement from Tony Angie, James Gathii, and Obi Okafor. This study would not have been possible without the phenomenal efforts of librarians past and present. I had the privilege of working in libraries at the University of Toronto, Cornell Law School, and the Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives and Special Collections Research Center at Purdue University, My deepest gratitude to Kerry Ritich for her support, generosity, and great patience. I can’t imagine how rambling I must have sounded at times. Her insights have taught me how one can provide penetrating critiques with the lightest touch. Finally, to my parents Joe and Ragheda Fakhri, my brother Mark Fakhri, and my partner Lisa Romano – their love supported me in more ways than they even know. iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................................................................................................................... IV TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................................................V LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................................X PROLOGUE: OUTLINE OF STUDY.....................................................................................................................1 PART ONE. SITUATING THE STUDY CHAPTER ONE. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH AND ANALYTICAL CONTRIBUTION ..........................................................................................................................9 I. EXPANDING THE INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF TRADE ......................................................................9 II. READING POLANYI....................................................................................................................................... 12 III. FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................................................... 16 A. LAW AS THe INTeRPLAY OF IDeAS, INTERESTS, AND INSTITUTIONS.......................................................................16 B. MARKeT SOCIeTIeS AND IMPeRIALISM .........................................................................................................................22 IV. INSIGHTS INTO TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................... 25 A. GeNeALOGY OF FREE TRADe: CONFIGURATION OF TARIFF CONTROL AND MARKeT ReGULATION.................28 B. THE ROLE OF DEVELOPMENT THEORY IN THE MAKING OF TRADe INSTITUTIONS..............................................30 C. CONTeSTATION AND NeGOTIATION BETWEEN INDUSTRIAL AND AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS..........................31 D. INTeRNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AS TECHNOLOGIES OF GOVeRNANCe ...................................................................33 CHAPTER TWO. BROADER CONTEXT OF STUDY .................................................................................... 35 I. TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................................................................... 35 A. THE THEORY OF COMPARATIVe ADVANTAGe..............................................................................................................36 B. THE ReLATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEORIeS OF TRADe AND DEVELOPMENT ...........................................................39 II. WHY HISTORY MATTERS........................................................................................................................... 42 A. THE ORTHODOX HISTORY OF MODERN TRADe LAW .................................................................................................42 B. THE PROBLEM WITH THE ORTHODOX STORY .............................................................................................................45 III. HISTORY OF SUGAR.................................................................................................................................... 47 PART II. INSTIUTIONALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE CHAPTER THREE. THE 1902 BRUSSELS CONVENTION: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE............. 51 I. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................. 51 A. FOUNDATIONS OF INTeRNATIONAL TRADe LAW ........................................................................................................51 v B. OUTLINE OF THE CONDITIONS THAT LED TO THE BRUSSELS CONVENTION ..........................................................54 1. Political Economy of the Sugar Trade.................................................................................................................. 54 2. Ideational Context......................................................................................................................................................... 59 II. MODERN TREATY/CONTEMPORARY PRECURSOR ........................................................................... 63 III. GEOGRAPHY OF INTERTWINING INTERESTS.................................................................................... 68 A. RISE OF THE CONTINeNTAL eUROPeAN SUGAR BEET................................................................................................68 B. USA, CUBA, BRAZIL...........................................................................................................................................................70 C. WEST INDIeS.......................................................................................................................................................................73 IV. SHIFTS IN INTERESTS AND IDEAS ......................................................................................................... 78 A. COALeSCING OF INTERESTS .............................................................................................................................................78