Countries don't just show up in Doha, Cancun, Geneva, or Hong Kong and being negotiating. They don't just decide one night to bring an accusation against a foreign nation in the WTO dispute settlement process. Nations don't reach consensus instinctively on how to respond to changing trade environments.
Trade issues are complex. A lot of economic and legal analysis and research, planning, soul-searching, advocacy, lobbying, agonized decision-making, canvassing of constituents, coordination or conflict between government departments and agencies, searches for allies, and more, take place behind the headlines.
In many instances, trade process participants are poor countries, with limited analytical, legal, or administrative resources. (Alan Beattie showed how hard it is for a poor country to participate last December in his story about the travails of Zambia's Trade Minister, Dipak Patel: Dipak Patel and Doha .)
For the last few evenings I've begun reading the new book, Managing the Challenges of WTO Participation, edited by Peter Gallagher, Patrick Low, and Andrew Stoler. Challenges promises to provide insights into the work behind the headlines.