The Embedded Liberalism Compromise in the Making of the GATT and Uruguay Round Agreements

This draft chapter examines the embedded liberalism compromise in the context of the GATT and Uruguay Round agreements. It also briefly addresses possible examples of embedded liberalism in the current international economic law environment. The term “embedded liberalism” was coined by John Gerard Ruggie in his seminal 1982 article, “International Regimes, Transactions and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order.” Ruggie revisits his phrase in later work, and others have also adopted the “embedded liberalism” concept, sometimes in ways that may not match Ruggie's conception. Part I of the chapter discusses the concept as expressed by Ruggie in his original article. The question then arises whether the “embedded liberalism compromise” continued beyond the time period Ruggie discusses, and if so in what form or forms. This necessitates consideration of whether we should view the embedded liberalism compromise as having a fixed meaning based on Ruggie's original concept, or whether we should instead see the possibility for a variety of iterations of embedded liberalism compromises, depending on the social, economic and political concerns of a given time. These issues are addressed in Part II. Part III considers whether a range of GATT and Uruguay Round Agreement provisions fit within Ruggie's conception of embedded liberalism, and if not, whether they should nonetheless be considered to be new forms of an embedded liberalism compromise or whether they should be viewed as something other than embedded liberalism. Part IV considers embedded liberalism in the present-day context and Part V concludes