Judicial Politics in International Trade Relations: an Introduction

International institutions have acquired an almost obvious presence in international politics and the question of their design has received prominent attention in recent years. Apart from key organizational characteristics like size of their membership, policy scope, depth of cooperation, decision-making rules, and their degree of openness towards non-state actors, one of their most striking features is their differing degree of legalization or judicialization (Goldstein and Martin, 2000; Zangl, 2008). Some institutions possess strong enforcement mechanisms or rules, while others rely on voluntary cooperation by their members.</jats:p