本文嘗試釐清哪些可能的變數影響了歐盟(the European Union, EU)小國是否參 與或使用世界貿易組織(the World Trade Organization, WTO)的爭端解決機制(the Dispute Settlement Mechanism, DSM)。個案研究的結果顯示,國際因素(例如:是否 具有區域經濟整合組織的會員國身分)比國內因素(例如:特定產業在一國整體經濟 結構中的比重)更具有解釋一國與 DSM 互動關係深淺的能力。然而,研究結果也同 時提醒我們,在進行有關國家「產業結構」的分析時,透過國內層次進行「絕對比較」 的觀察將優於經由國際層次進行「相對比較」之觀察。 本文雖然還無法精準指出何種變數最為重要,或者提出一套通則化能力很強的論 述來解釋國家是否會使用 DSM 保護自己的出口貿易利益,但對於何種變數在什麼情 況下能夠發揮較佳的解釋力,提供了優於傳統觀點的研究貢獻。

In this paper, the reasons why member states did not bring their cases to the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) offered by the WTO will be answered through the case studies specially focused on the small countries within the European Union (EU). The finding suggests that the international factors, e.g., the membership of a regional economic integration group,are more plausibly to explain the complex interaction between the member states and the WTO/DSM than the domestic factors, e.g., the proportion of one specific sector. Further, this paper intimately argues that relative comparisons made at the domestic level are more precise than absolute comparisons made at the inter-state level when we want to have the analysis of particular sectorsand their occupations in one country’s economy. There is no denying that the effort contributed by this paper is a limited one to suggest that which factor is the most significant, or toestablish a general theoryexplainingthe conditions under whichstates would use the DSM to protect their national interest in exporting trade. Nevertheless, this study reaches a firm conclusion that certain variables provide more convincing explanations than the others, which is obviously better than the conventional wisdom suggests.