隨著世界貿易組織(World Trade Organization, WTO)成立至今已屆滿23年，發展中國家是否真正享受到參與WTO此項國際貿易制度的好處，或至少沒有因為當初加入WTO而反受損害？為回答此問題，本文聚焦發展中國家與WTO爭端解決機制(the Dispute Settlement Mechanism, DSM)之互動關係，藉由觀察與分析由發展中國家「主動」提出之爭端解決案件，來釐清上開的研究問題。文中以拉丁美洲國家作為分析對象，同時比較和觀察相近經濟發展水平和不同經濟發展水平的拉美國家在主動使用與參與DSM的表現上，是否存在明顯差異。透過若干個案的質性比較及分析，本文指出發展中國家在特定情況或條件下不但能夠使用DSM此項國際制度，還能藉由主動參與貿易訴訟達到維護國家經濟利益之效果。然而，研究也發現目前DSM的制度設計較為偏向保護「出口貿易」的會員，而這樣的情況在出口國與進口國存在利益衝突的時候，可能會削減DSM的制度公允性。 It has been 23 years since the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been established. Did developing countries really benefit from their memberships of this international trade institution, or at least did not been deterred from it? To find out the answer, this paper examines the interaction between developing countries and the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) within the WTO, and particularly focuses on the cases in which the developing countries proactively involved in are the complainants. The scope of research, for such purpose, can be narrowed down to the comparison of the tendency of Latin American countries' participation in WTO/DSM at the same or different levels of their economic development. Through qualitative comparative analyses based on the cases carefully selected, this paper shows that developing countries are indeed able to shape a favorable environment to protect their economic interests through the use of DSM under certain conditions. Nevertheless, the conclusion reminds us that there is a looming close-packed linkage between DSM and 'exporting countries'. In this respect, the fairness of DSM will be very likely eroded in the case of a conflict of interest between exporting and importing countries.
