African Demands for Special and Differential Treatment in the Doha Round: An Assessment and Analysis

Interest in Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) is experiencing a revival and Africa has made it a WTO priority. This article reviews the African SDT proposals and puts forward a political economy explanation of the strong focus on it. Small African economies cannot reap gains in the WTO through the use of reciprocity. However, there are still opportunities for them to influence the negotiations, if (i) no major trade interests of the main powers are in play, (ii) they can make a sufficient claim to the moral high ground and/or (iii) they can exploit the decision-making procedures to block negotiations. This favours a prioritisation of negotiations on SDT, but potential gains here are fewer than they might be since the African approach to SDT is unfocused, substantially and politically. Copyright 2007 Overseas Development Institute.