Globalization and the transnationalization of commercial and financial law

Globalization of trade has been with us for a long time. After World War II, globalization's aim was government policy to avoid a repeat of the balkanization effect that occurred in the 1930s. States adopted the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade ("GATT"), and retained it, even after the United States Senate declined to accept the larger architecture of the International Trade Organization ("ITO") in 1948. The European Economic Community ("EEC"), now the European Union ("EU"), was an early effort to further promote and accelerate trade amongst the original six Member States, although there were many other objectives. Its creation of the internal market, now between twenty-eight Members, could be seen as a pre-cursor to full-fledged globalization before the term received mainstream acceptance. Throughout its evolution, this EU mini- globalization highlighted many problems and offered solutions that scholars and policymakers previously never considered. As such, it presents an important inventory of and guide to the complications that may be expected now that globalization has taken off on a much larger scale. In South America, the Member States of Mercosur operate with less effort, but still in the same direction. Projects that are more limited operate in free trade areas such as the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"). As of 2013, more may be considered in the US/EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. After years of experience with these projects, especially in trade, the most important realization must be that globalization is by no means a new phenomenon. Rather, it has a long history and is established policy which also shows as such important examples of its institutionalization.