The World Trade Organization faces two formidable challenges-one external and one internal. First, it must confront escalating
attacks by outside groups and individuals proclaiming that the WTO lacks democratic
accountability and is a lackey for multinational corporations. Second, the WTO must deal with a constitutional flaw caused by the imbalance between consensus-plagued rule-making procedures and a highly efficient dispute settlement system-an imbalance that creates strong pressure to "legislate" new rules through adjudication.
In turn, the United States faces a different, but related, set of challenges. In responding to an increasingly globalized world, the United States must continually recalculate and rebalance a defense of national sovereignty against grants of authority over economic and social policy to
international organizations like the WTO. The United States must also devise domestic political mechanisms that provide greater democratic accountability for decisions affecting U.S. international obligations.