Course Catalogue

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This course examines the role played by international law in the contemporary global economic system through a consideration of the various ways in which international lawyers and specialists from neighbouring disciplines engage with and respond to what are considered to be the main pressing problems confronting the global economic arena (trade wars, underdevelopment, sovereign debt crises, etc.). More specifically, students will be introduced to core debates and perspectives about the role of law in regulating debt, trade, monetary sovereignty, and investment, and how these subjects, in turn, are addressed and organised in contemporary international law, what institutional frameworks exist in each of these areas (WTO, IMF, the World Bank, investment arbitration, etc.), and what their main relative strengths and weaknesses are according to different theoretical and political traditions. In addition to advancing their doctrinal knowledge of these subjects, it will also introduce the students to the main paradigms of international theory and the basic critical and analytical skills needed to make use of them.

The course will be delivered by way of ten two-hour-seminars. Each seminar will be taught synchronously and in-person (face to face).

Admission to the course is subject to the general School of Law policy. Each candidate will have to obtain a pass in Public International Law (Ordinary) or another comparable course if any part of their previous studies was completed elsewhere (e.g. during an international exchange year) and also in the case of visiting students.

None

None.

There will be one, end-of-course written examination. It will be worth 100% of the final mark. It will be in an 'open book'-style format (students will be allowed to consult any materials covered in the course), and it will be set for two hours.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The principal aim of this course is to foster critical thinking about the place of international law in the global economy. In particular, the course aims:

• to enhance the students' knowledge and understanding of the constitutive power and problem-solving capacity of international law and its place in different areas of the contemporary global economy;

• to develop the students' skills of legal reasoning, problem-solving, legal writing, and critical analysis;

• to encourage in-depth and independent learning in areas relating to this course's subject matter (international law and the global economy);

• to develop the students' research skills and argument-construction skills;

• to develop the students' team work skills and provide them with the experience of working in groups. 

By the end of this course students will:

1. be able to demonstrate a critically informed understanding of the role played by different international law regimes, such as international trade and investment, in the contemporary global economic order;

2. be able to demonstrate a critically informed understanding of the role played by different international law institutions, such as the World Trade Organisation, in the contemporary global economic order;

3. be able to assess critically the role of international law in international economic affairs;

4. be able to orient themselves in the main debates that have developed within international law concerning the above subjects;

5. be able to demonstrate a critically informed understanding of the relationship that international law as a discipline has with other disciplines, such as international relations and economics;

6. be better able to construct and present oral or written legal arguments

Completion of the summative assessment. See Sections 18 and 19 below.