Course Description
Standard Course Description (limit 250 words; please revise for length if needed):
The ongoing transformation of the international economic legal order and of global governance institutions is generally attributed to globalization. The establishment of global governance institutions is linked with the need of solving issues that affects, due to their nature, the international community. Both globalization and institutions established for its promotion are in a profound crisis of identity. Concerns arise as to the coherence and compatibility of these trading processes and efforts with respect to national and global challenges. Both public opinion and policy makers fear that international trade, in particular a further liberalization thereof, may undermine or jeopardize policies and measures enacted for facing global challenges. This is the domain of this course; the law and policy of relations between national governments concerning the regulation of economic transactions that have cross-border effects also on the life of the population at large. The course covers the relevant WTO cardinal principles (nondiscrimination, most-favored nation, national treatment, free trade, etc), the WTO agreements, the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism and the foundational case law. A brief overview on the most recent or problematic case law on national security, state interference in the market, subsidies and countervailing duties and intellectual property is also provided. The course looks into the interaction among trade, economic globalisation and global challenges. It also deals with past and present debates over the role of the legal order in economic development, analysing some of today’s most important issues in this domain: the relations between law and development and the rise of emerging economies. Emerging economies, especially China, are increasingly taking the lead in the reform attempts of the international economic law and from rule taker are now shaping the future of this field. Trade wars, trade sanctions, the securitization of international trade as well as COVID-19 implications on international economic law are also covered in this course to demonstrate the broader crisis of what we can term as multilateralism. In addition, this course is addressing the international trade law and its domestic regulation and policy in different countries with cases studies on the U.S., the European Union, and other economic powers.