This chapter critically assesses the environment of economic hyperglobalisation, as a more robust and vigorous form of globalisation, against recent attempts to raise and establish protectionist barriers, measures and regimes in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. In so doing, it considers certain WTO disputes and related matter and examines relevant areas of contestation in contemporary international economic law and trade. The paper proceeds on the basis that the hyperglobalisation phenomenon directly and ab initio opposes forms of protectionism. Methodologically, this is a contribution that evaluates and assesses, amongst others, comparative perspectives and approaches from around the world in furtherance of its analytical goals and conclusions. Furthermore, the contribution assesses whether the new world order of hyperglobalisation is practically one that amounts to a close-to-a-wholly-integrated world trade regime, despite certain exceptions to the contrary. Equally, the chapter recognises that the new protectionist regimes, which are constantly created and which can take a variety of forms, may be ones that cause the integration of international economic law to be adversely affected. Acknowledgement is also made to the fact that the geopolitical factor can negatively impact the rigour of the new world order of interconnected economics. The contribution thereafter assesses, on an indicative basis, protectionist measures, policies, and regimes by examining their legality in the face of the new world order of economic hyperglobalisation. It acknowledges the ever-increasing sophistication of the protectionist regimes around the world, especially the ones from recent decades, by otherwise categorising them into overt and covert ones. Moreover, the paper reinforces the view that the world’s strongest economies continue to engage in protectionist regulatory regimes and practices on a considerable scale, often by significantly affecting the well-being of international trade and the benefits that arise from it, even though the aspiration for free world trade is now one that the overwhelming majority of States embrace and recognise. Finally, in addition to assessing recent developments in the area of its investigation, the chapter proposes a number of ways in relation to the strengthening and the reinvigoration of central WTO principles. It does so by focusing on a number of WTO principles, namely the principle of trade without discrimination, the principle of predictability and the principle of fair competition. The paper concludes with its key findings.
ORCID: 
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)