Sustainable Fisheries Management and International Law: Marine Fisheries in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal by Abdullah-Al ARIF. Routledge Research in International Environmental Law Series. London: Routledge, 2021. xxii + 208 pp. Hardcover/eBook: £84.00; £25.89. doi:10.4324/9781003080541.

Abstract

dispute settlement mechanism given its applaudable accomplishments. In advancing his proposal to preserve the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, Mavroidis assumes that the collective will of the membership is aimed at resisting populism and de-politicizing the adjudication process – the cornerstone of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. This assumption, and his confidence, may be contestable in view of the diversity of the WTO membership, in particular in contrast to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade era. The capacity of the GATT regime to de-politicize trade disputes largely lies in the political and economic homogeneity of the membership, but this is not the case for the WTO. Also, as WTO rules become more intrusive and the global economy more integrated, depoliticizing trade disputes seems more challenging than ever. This need not necessarily lead to pessimism or doom, but it is the new reality we face and cannot be neglected when considering the future of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism.