GATS: How the World Trade Organization’s new “services” negotiations threaten democracy By Scott Sinclair Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Suite 410, 75 Albert Street, OTTAWA, ON K1P 5E7, Canada Cdn. $19.95 http://www.policyalternatives.ca

This 135-page guide opens up the implications of the negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). These talks would in the opinion of the author “radically restructure the role of government worldwide.”

The GATS negotiations, part of the WTO’s built-in agenda, were not slowed by Seattle. In May, 2000 negotiators set an ambitious agenda , with submission of initial market access proposals planned for December and a “stock-taking” review in March, 2001, facilitating accelerated talks in the months following.

A significant and far-reaching threat to democracy, public services and social development arises from the pressure of global business interests for “binding, global and irreversible rules on services.” Sinclair notes that many developed country negotiators and the staff of the WTO are “ardent, even fervent, advocates of promoting commercialization, privatization and deregulation of services”. Every service is on the table, as are all modes of supply. The implications affect all levels of government from federal or national to municipal and indigenous people’s institutions. The GATS is designed for ever-increasing expansion as “rachet-like” constraints on government (and thus democratic) regulatory authority are built into the structure of the agreement.

The guide is helpfully set up for readers with limited background in trade matters, unpacking the importance of services and trade in services, the way in which negotiations are handled and potential flash-points. It uses the history of the WTO to illustrate concretely what can be expected from the application of a new GATS agreement. Detailed explanatory footnotes provide links to other resources for those who want to dig deeper. The book is meant to be used by social, health and educational service providers as they seek to defend the quality and public purposes of the services they provide. It is meant to alert all citizens to the threats to democracy and accountability represented by the corporate agenda at the GATS.

Scott Sinclair, a trade expert with two decades experience in the field, was a senior trade policy advisor to the to the government of British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province. He currently serves a cross-sectoral working group of Canadian trade unions, health providers, teachers, NGOs, student and cultural groups focusing on the WTO and the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.

Reimagining the future: towards democratic governance Available from: The Department of Politics, La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia www.latrobe.edu.au/www/socpol

The result of a creative consortium, this 100 page study seeks to re-invigorate public debate on options for reform of global governance. It seeks to illuminate the connections between economy and security, examining the inter-relations of state, market and civil society and placing a democratic ethic at the centre.

Reimagining the future is the result of three years of collaboration and consultation led by investigators at Australia’s La Trobe University, the Toda Institute of Japan and Hawaii and the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South. It takes a broad approach to security. Beginning with the need for stability and security for people – human security – it asks how international structures can be reformed to prevent recurrent and destructive economic crises and the spiral of violence and crime.

The widening crisis of legitimacy which undermines international institutions and governments can only be resolved by the emergence of a “renovated UN system equipped with effective and well-financed institutions and based on a holistic approach.” Civil society, interacting with and nurtured by renewed international and national institutions is essential to this process of crisis prevention and security provision.

Themes addressed include democratizing global governance, the governance of global financial flows, global peace and security, disarmament and arms control, conflict transformation and peace operations. It takes up such challenges as “taming global capitalism”, “the pros and cons of unregulated capital flows” and renewing “governance of the global economy”. A fascinating range of specific and timely reform proposals peppers the chapters.

Forewords by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Richard Falk, Noeleen Heyzer and Mohammad Javad Zarif provide stimulating perspectives on the work of the project. A summary of proposals for reform in various dimensions of global governance provides a useful starting point for debate, reflection and action.