Who's afraid of the WTO?

• Position: Brief Article

When demonstrators poured into downtown Seattle to protest a global economic meeting last month, they drew international attention not only to themselves, but to the target of their ire: a little-known but powerful body called the World Trade Organization (WTO). (See "The Free-Trade Battle")

Suddenly, an organization that had largely operated out of the spotlight was thrust onto the front pages. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the WTO governs trade among its 135 member nations. It was formed in 1995 as a means of developing a worldwide free-market economy, a process referred to as globalization.

The idea, say free-trade proponents like President Bill Clinton, is the fewer restrictions on trade, the more trade, and the more...