4 ms·
It prevents elected representatives from making changes to an international treaty that most have not seen before the final version is handed to them. So yes, i
by faster 11y ago
It prevents elected representatives from making changes to an international treaty that most have not seen before the final version is handed to them. So yes, it's undemocratic. It was not crafted by (or arguably for) the people or by their elected representatives.
Let's not get into the details of how they could actually see it (sort of), but couldn't get a copy to review with experts, or with their constituents.
- tptacek 11y agoYou think it's a bad thing that the Republican Congressperson from the 4th district of Alabama, which itself contains no major US city, is unable to tack additional requirements onto a trade bill that binds the citizens of Vietnam, Malaysia, and New Zealand? If Robert Aderholt doesn't like the TPP, he's perfectly free to vote against it.
- walterbell 11y agoHow were the WTO and WIPO able to conduct multilateral public discussions with many countries and stakeholders? Those agreements influenced trade in many countries, without mandating TPP-style secrecy during negotiations.
- tptacek 11y agoThe WTO isn't able to do that, which is why there's a TPP and TTIP in the first place. The WTO is perceived as impossible to reach agreement through.
- walterbell 11y agoThe WTO did accomplish this for several decades, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_World_Trade_Organization https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_World_Trade_... and it would be worthwhile to understand why public interest stakeholders have been excluded from TPP. Excluding public stakeholders from the development of legislation will not make their issues disappear, it will only force those concerns into alternate vehicles of expression, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed
- tptacek 11y agoThe Doha round was widely seen as a gridlocked failure, and the other large regional FTAs (NAFTA, for instance) aren't WTO agreements either, are they?
- waterlesscloud 11y agoAh, so you like that it's undemocratic. That's a different thing entirely.