SUMMARY ABOUT THE WTO

The WTO or World Trade Organization is the only international body dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Membership is voluntary and at the moment the WTO has nearly 150 member nations, who together represent over 97% of global trade. Over 30 additional countries are negotiating membership.

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WTO is completely separate from the United Nations and was not formally established until January 1, 1995. 

The WTO provides the framework for member governments to negotiate trade agreements and resolve trade disputes. Trade agreements have the status of international treaties. They are negotiated by consensus and signed by ministerial-level representatives of member governments, but they do not enter into force until ratified by two-thirds of the national legislatures (parliaments) of member nations.

The scope of trade agreements has expanded over the years. Initially focused on agricultural products and manufactured goods, WTO treaties now cover services and intellectual property:
	General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the initial treaty, was first adopted in 1947 and substantially revised in 1994.
	General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) entered into force January 1995 and covers banking, insurance, telecommunications, transport, travel and hotels.
	Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs) also entered into force January 1995 and covers copyrights, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, integrated circuit layout and trade secrets.

Barriers to trade are mechanisms devised by national governments to give their domestic producers an advantage in their home markets over imports from other nations. Three principal types of barriers to trade have been recognized by WTO agreements:
	Tariffs (customs duties) are a governmental tax levied on imported goods or services that is not assessed against similar goods or services produced within the country. Lowering tariff levels on imports remains a substantial area of concern, especially among developing nations.
	"Dumping" refers to the practice of selling exported goods below-cost with the aid of government subsidies. Because this tends to drive the importing nation's own producers out of business, "anti-dumping" agreements are a contentious issue.
	Technical barriers to trade are overly-restrictive government mandates posing as technical specifications for safety or the protection of human health and the environmental, but whose real intent is to restrict access to domestic markets.

The WTO serves as a sort of clearinghouse for proposed environmental and safety regulations because the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) requires national governments to notify the WTO Secretariat whenever their proposed technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures are not based upon international standards.

Nazioni facenti parte del WTO nel 2012

I SALONS PARIGINI DANNO IL VIA ALLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE ARTISTICA

Dopo il 1700, i  "Salons"  parigini vennero considerati le più importanti esposizioni artistiche non solo di Francia, ma di tutta Europa. Prendono il loro nome dal Salon Carré (Salone quadrato) del Louvre, una sala al primo piano dell'edificio dove, dal 1699, si teneva la mostra ufficiale dell'Accademia Reale di Pittura e Scultura. Inizialmente i salons ebbero  periodicità biennale, poi divennero annuali sotto il controllo dei professori dell'Ecole de Beaux Arts, i quali riuniti in una severissima giuria decidevano dell'ammissione degli artisti. Il loro giudizio, basato sui canoni accademici tradizionali, era insindacabile.
Contro questo rigido accademismo gli artisti rifiutati dettero talora vita ad iniziative clamorose come ad esempio il pittore Courbet che, durante l'Esposizione universale di Parigi del 1855, oppose al gusto della cultura ufficiale il suo “Pavillon du Réalisme” .  La giuria, infatti, aveva respinto i suoi due quadri più

Funerale a Ornans - Courbet

significativi: "Funerale ad Ornans", gigantesco manifesto pittorico del realismo, già esposto al Salon del 1850-51, e l'altrettanto grande e appena terminato "Atelier del pittore". Per questa ragione Courbet decise di costruire il Padiglione completamente a spese sue.
Sempre per protesta contro i canoni artistici tradizionali,  il gruppo degli Impressionisti dette vita, nel 1863, al Salon des Refusés (Salon dei Rifiutati). In quegli anni l'arte francese si impose sul panorama internazionale  e Parigi divenne meta costante degli artisti d’avanguardia che si recavano in città sperando di far fortuna esponendo le proprie opere. Nel 1884 nasce il Salon des Indépendants che, senza premiazioni, permetteva a tutti gli artisti di esporre e nel 1903 s’inaugura il Salon d’Automne al Grand Palais, dove esporranno dai fauves (1905) ai cubisti (1911); nel 1906 sarà inoltre la sede della prima retrospettiva di Gauguin e l’anno seguente di quella di Cézanne. La prima mostra  importante di Van Gogh, con cento quadri, era stata invece allestita alla Galleria parigina Bernheim-Jeune nel 1901. Negli stessi anni (1908-1909), alla galleria Bernheim-Jeune, il critico Félix Fénéon organizza la prima grande mostra di Seurat.