Rorden Wilkinson explores the factors behind the collapse of World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerials - as in Seattle in 1999 and Cancun in 2003 - and asks why such events have not significantly disrupted the development of the multilateral trading system.

He argues that the political conflicts played out during such meetings, their occasional collapse and the reasons why such events have so far not proven detrimental to the development of the multilateral trading system can be explained by examining the way in which the institution was created and has developed through time.

In addition, this new text:

• explores the development of the multilateral trading system from the creation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947 to the WTO's Hong Kong ministerial in December 2005
• examines the way in which the interaction of member states has been structured by the institution's development
• assesses the impact of institutional practices and procedures on the heightening of political tensions
• and explains why WTO ministerials exhibit a propensity to collapse but why the breakdown of a meeting has so far not prevented the institution from moving forward

This book will be of interest to scholars and students of international politics, economics and law