Does the Multilateral Trading System Suffer from a Legitimacy Deficit?

By Biswajit Dhar | Special Report | March 7, 2023

In its seven and a half decades of existence, questions regarding the legitimacy and democratic credibility of the multilateral trading system have often been asked on two fundamental grounds. The first stems from the questions regarding its internal legitimacy, essentially the transparency and inclusiveness of its decision-making processes. Questions regarding transparency have become more…

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China Plus One Strategy: Can India Benefit?

By Dipankar Dey | Briefing Paper # 59 | January 26, 2023

Coined in 2013, China Plus One (C+1) is a global business strategy in which companies avoid investing only in China and diversify their businesses to alternative destinations. Officials and companies in Japan and the United States had begun mulling a diversification strategy away from China as early as 2008. However, it was only towards the end of the…

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India’s G20 Presidency: Time to Set Realistic Expectations

By Kavaljit Singh | Briefing Paper # 58 | December 28, 2022

On December 1, 2022, India took over the G20 presidency from Indonesia with the theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth, One Family, One Future). On that occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi authored an article in which he outlined India’s vision for the G20 presidency and pitched for hope, healing, harmony to deal with pressing…

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Why the WTO’s Claims on Addressing Climate Change are Unfounded

By Biswajit Dhar | Commentary | December 12, 2022

On the eve of the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that took place in Egypt last month, the World Trade Organization (WTO) released a report titled, “The World Trade Report 2022: Climate Change and International Trade”, highlighting the importance of global trade rules for arresting…

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Assessing India’s Free Trade Agreements

By Biswajit Dhar | Briefing Paper # 57 | December 9, 2022

Almost two decades back, India began its serious engagements with bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) with the adoption of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2003. This agreement was the articulation of the decision taken by the Trade Ministers of India and…

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