What would you do if a desperately sought and planned entry into a desired place is blocked by the whim of a bit player who is already inside? Russia is currently facing this dilemma as it pulls out all stops to secure much-prized admission into the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which hinges upon the consent of tiny Georgia. This struggle has global relevance because Russia is the last major economy that remains outside the WTO?s fold.

Under the pro-western President, Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia has been a thorn in Russia?s bid to reclaim its glory as a superpower with vast influence in the former Soviet space. This bilateral rivalry between the Russian colossus and prickly Georgia has spilled over from the territorial and geopolitical arena to the WTO?s portals.

Since it began accession negotiations to the multilateral trading institution in 1995, Russia has haltingly satiated demands of WTO members to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and to allow private actors more room in the Russian economy. Moscow has won approval of all key trading powers, including the European Union, China, Japan, Canada and the US, to be allowed a seat at the WTO. But Georgia stands out as a sore thumb that has no rational economic objections per se but is taking advantage of the ?negative consensus? rule that vests veto power in each and every WTO member.

The oddity of the situation is that outside a rules-bound international setting like the WTO, Russia is preponderant over Georgia and has succeeded in besting the latter on the battlefield and in diplomacy. In the WTO context, size and relative strength do matter in deciding a host of outcomes, but so do institutional rules. Russia cannot arm-twist Georgia into laying out the red carpet for striding into the WTO. Realising that Georgia actually has some situational bargaining power, Russia has sought Switzerland?s help to mediate with the former.

Thus far, the Georgians have not budged on their pound of flesh, which is the right of their customs officials to enforce duties and monitor commodity movements between Russia proper and the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has flailed Georgia?s ?politicisation? of what should have been a purely economic decision, but Georgia has yet to relent.

Since the bone of contention is the sovereignty of the two breakaway regions, Russia would not normally even take cognisance of the cussed Georgian position. But the frustrating delay to Russia?s entry into the WTO has forced Moscow to consider creative quid pro quos. If one needed an instance of the poetic ironies concocted by multilateral institutions, this is one.

While trying to strike a deal with Georgia, Russia has leveraged its ?reset? in relations with the US to get Washington to drive sense into the obstinate Tiblisi. The Americans have tacitly assisted Russia in this endeavour owing to the liberal belief that, if it joins the WTO, Russia will become ?tamer? as a state-dominated economy and more democratic via the rise of a Kremlin-independent middle class.

In a reprise of the US decision to back China?s accession to the WTO, the US body politic is hoping that modernisation theory will work out and usher in liberal democracy in Russia as its opens its market. The World Bank estimates that Russia?s economic growth will be boosted by 11% in the long run if it becomes a WTO member. For Washington, that is a tantalising eventuality portending Western-style democracy in semi-authoritarian Russia.

Has the WTO seeded capitalist democracy in China? Time will tell, but the first decade of China?s membership of the WTO has not upheld the lofty expectations of commercial liberalism. China is a state-heavy economy to this day and for the foreseeable future. The West may, at best, gain market entry into Russia in some sectors by virtue of the latter?s WTO accession. But as political cost-benefit has been central to the entire saga, the day may not be far when Russia finally finds a chair at the Centre William Rappard in Geneva.

The author is vice-dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs