The actions and intentions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has brought international trade law out of a dusty corner and made it a concern of a wide range of commentators with a wide range of political and economic viewpoints. Along with livening up political discourse, the WTO has re-aligned and refined international trade law to conform with modern notions about global development, a situation that has become increasingly complex. In this overview of what the WTO does and how it does it, topics include the history of the WTO and its organizational structure, the concepts and legal structure behind it, its mechanisms of dispute settlement, its behaviors in terms of trade in goods and tariffs, remedies, and rules for trade in services, its efforts in the protection of intellectual property and domestic legal systems, and the problem areas inherent in such a large responsibility across such a large number of nations marching to their own drummers. The authors include a table of cases. Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. Annotation ?2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)