Developing Countries in the World Trading System
Moshe Hirsch, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The course focuses on several major topics regarding economic development and the position of developing countries in the contemporary World Trade Organization (WTO) law. The course would address the principal dimensions and measurement of “underdevelopment” (GDP, GNI and the Human Development Index), the major approaches to development (the modernization, dependency, developmental state, neo-liberal, neo-institutional, and geographical approaches). Following a brief discussion of the central principles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (including the MFN principle, tariffs, non-tariff barriers, national treatment and the general exceptions) special emphasis will be placed on the special position of developing countries in the WTO legal system. Thus, for instance, we will explore the particular position of developing countries with regard to tariffs (imposed on agricultural, textile and industrial productions) non-reciprocal trade preferences in favor of developing countries, import standards, and regional agreements between developing and developed countries (or among developing countries).
2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (20%), Class presentation (10%), Research paper (3,000-3,500 words) (70%).
EU Law in Times of Crisis
Oana Stefan, King’s College London
This course looks at current challenges in European Union law: the response to the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, Brexit, and the rule of law backsliding. Grounded in crisis studies, it equips students with the legal tools to assess such challenges, while acquiring a deep understanding of the general principles of EU law. Students will understand how the policy instruments choice, based largely on non-legally binding material, might affect, from a democratic perspective, the EU response to the pandemic. The limits to EU competences will be assessed while looking at current landmark cases on the rule of law, and the ways in which the Commission and the EUCJ have been dealing with the Polish and the Hungarian rule of law violations. Students will learn how the EU flexed its security muscle during the Ukraine crisis and will discuss the tools available under EU law to treat situations of military conflict and humanitarian crises. Brexit is used to explore legal disintegration: the disentanglement of the EU and the UK legal orders, what does it mean for judges, administrators, and practitioners in the UK.
2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (10%), Group presentations (30%), Individual reflections on the moot court (maximum 800 words) (20%), Final essay on a given topic (maximum 3,000 words) (40%).
ONE-PLUS OPTION:
For 1 extra credit, a limited number of students who need to fulfill a graduation requirement at their home university may write a major research paper. To obtain the extra credit, the student must (a) turn in a written outline of the paper for faculty comment relatively early in the semester, (b) turn in a complete first draft for faculty comment two-thirds of the way through the semester, and (c) write a paper of 6,000 words, not including footnotes.
Please note that this course has been approved as a WR course for Georgetown students.
International and Comparative Cultural Heritage Law
Peter Byrne, Georgetown Law
This course seeks to give students an introductory grounding in the law of cultural heritage protection, as well as in the policy debates that surround it. This law is inherently transnational, because cultures are shaped, shared, and commercialized across national borders. National heritage laws often treat regional and indigenous cultures as either within or without national cultures. International heritage regimes are dominated by states but have promoted the idea of “universal value,” as well as protecting regional and indigenous cultural expressions. The course examines briefly national legal regimes in a comparative perspective and considers in greater depth the chief international legal instruments and institutions. Field trips will encounter contested and celebrated cultural treasures.
2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation (20%), Short paper (500 words) (Pass/Fail), Group assignment (1,500 words) (30%); Final paper (2,000 words) (50%).
ONE-PLUS OPTION:
For 1 extra credit, a limited number of students who need to fulfill a graduation requirement at their home university may write a major research paper. To obtain the extra credit, the student must (a) turn in a written outline of the paper for faculty comment relatively early in the semester, (b) turn in a complete first draft for faculty comment two-thirds of the way through the semester, and (c) write a paper of 6,000 words, not including footnotes.
Please note that this course has been approved as a WR course for Georgetown students.
International Commercial Litigation
Alberto Miglio, University of Torino
The course provides an overview of private international law rules on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in the area of commercial litigation, comparing the European approach (the Brussels I Recast Regulation) with common law systems. It covers the following topics: 1) Jurisdiction. 2) Choice-of-court agreements. 3) Parallel proceedings and related actions. 4) Recognition and enforcement of judgments.
Required textbook: Trevor C. Hartley, International Commercial Litigation, 3rd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2020, ISBN 9781108721134 (paperback) / 9781108774819 (digital).
2 Credits. Evaluation: Attendance and class participation (20%), Research paper (4,000 words) and its presentation in class (80%).
ONE-PLUS OPTION:
For 1 extra credit, a limited number of students who need to fulfill a graduation requirement at their home university may write a major research paper. To obtain the extra credit, the student must (a) turn in a written outline of the paper for faculty comment relatively early in the semester, (b) turn in a complete first draft for faculty comment two-thirds of the way through the semester, and (c) write a paper of 6,000 words, not including footnotes.
Please note that this course has been approved as a WR course for Georgetown students.
Introduction to International Criminal Law
Mark Kielsgard, City University of Hong Kong
This course will direct students to examine the models and methods of international accountability for crimes involving massive human rights violations; it will review the nature, character and legal elements of the crimes of genocide, serious war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. Students will review the history of international sanctioning bodies and identify jurisdictional constraints and other historical innovations and impediments. Students in this course will analyze contemporary international criminal law initiatives in relation to principles of public international law and domestic state practice with regard to both theory and practical applications and review current situations and on-going prosecutions. Students will explore issues such as command responsibility, complementarity jurisdiction, the general principles of criminal law, and the interchange between political power and the judicial process in the international arena. Students will also explore the jurisprudential mix (common law, civil law, international law, domestic law) utilized by the international criminal tribunals and consider their relative contributions toward eradicating impunity.
On completing the course students should understand the nature of vertical international law, the different mechanisms for the trial of international crimes and the constitutive documents that control them, the substantive offenses under international law and the rules and jurisprudence governing the international criminal law bodies. Moreover, students should be able to identify the political ramifications of the international criminal law legal framework and apply what they have learned to modern developments and practices in international relations today.
Required textbook: “An Introduction to the International Criminal Court” by William Schabas, fifth edition, published by Cambridge University Press.
2 Credits. Evaluation: Final take-home exam (100%), Class participation: Students who provide quality in-class participation can receive up to one half grade enhancement.
The course “Introduction to International Investment Law” seeks to introduce CTLS students to the international investment law regime, one of the most controversial and dynamic areas of Public International Law of the last half-century. International investment is a key source of financing, expertise, business connections and opportunity for most States; but the extent of obligations owed to international investors, and the inherent limitations such obligations place on State sovereignty, have generated intense consideration and controversy in the first two decades of our millennium. To better understand the current state of play, our lectures will retrace the historical origins and evolution of the international investment regime, and the political economy underlying international investment agreements (IIAs). We will examine key obligations contained in IIAs, including protection against uncompensated expropriation, prohibition of discriminatory treatment, and provision for fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security of foreign investors and their investments. In this regard, we will explore apparent conflicts that have arisen since the mid-1990s between the obligations to be upheld by host States vis-à-vis foreign investors and States’ right to regulate in the public interest. We also will consider the IIA dispute resolution process as illustrated by leading procedural and substantive rules systems, reviewing main trends and hot topics; the merits of recent efforts to reform IIAs; and more broadly, the future prospects of international investment law. Through these lectures, students will become familiar with the history and key legal issues arising out of the interpretation of IIAs, the literature surrounding recent attempts at reforming the system, and the main components of investor-State dispute settlement, allowing them to consider calls for and against the protection of international investment from an informed and critical perspective.
3 Credits. Evaluation: Attendance and class participation (30%), Final research paper and its presentation in class (4,000 words) (70%).
The European Union in the World: The Law of EU External Relations
Alberto Miglio, University of Torino
The course provides an overview of the legal aspects of EU external action. It addresses the following topics: competence; procedure; dispute settlement; the EU and international organizations; the interaction between EU law and international law; external relations and Common Foreign and Security Policy; the external effects of internal EU policies. Students are expected to work on first-hand sources (primarily the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union) and are encouraged to draw comparisons between the law of EU external relations and the constitutional framework of international relations in national legal orders they are familiar with. At the end of the course, students will be expected to have a good understanding of the specificities of the EU as an international actor, to possess the methodological tools to understand the content of EU international agreements and external policies, and to critically understand judgments and opinions of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
2 Credits. Evaluation: Attendance and class participation (including a class presentation) (30%), Final take-home exam (70%).
The Transnational Dimensions of Financial Regulation
Christian Hofmann, National University of Singapore
The world of finance is transnational by nature. The efficient allocation of money is one of the most elementary principles of finance. To limit such allocations to the national level would deprive investors of opportunities and stifle development, productivity and innovation. With capital flows being transnational, financial institutions had to evolve to follow suit, making them present in multiple jurisdictions these days. Unsurprisingly, the financial regulation of transnational capital flows, activities of financial institutions, and trade of financial instruments comes with challenges. If rules are merely set and enforced on the national level, compliance with different rules in multiple jurisdictions becomes difficult and costly for regulated institutions; national supervisors struggle with their task of monitoring the global activities of supervised institutions. Motivated by concerns for global financial stability, remarkable progress has been made by financial centres around the globe. This has come in the form of strengthening the alignment of regulatory principles and collaboration amongst regulators, especially since the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-9.
This course examines the reasons for and details of transnational regulatory alignments, with a focus on banks as the most important and heavily regulated financial intermediaries. The operations of financial institutions, financial markets, and their supervisors in normal times will be contrasted with crisis measures. Due to its transnational focus, this course will emphasise on global principles more than national rules. Where necessary or helpful, references will be made to specific jurisdictions, especially from Europe and Asia.
2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation and short presentations in class (30%), Final take-home exam (70%).
The Transnational Dimensions of Money and Central Banking
Christian Hofmann, National University of Singapore
The global financial crisis of 2007-9 led to many changes in the financial world. One of the most significant is the perception of central banks as not only guardians of monetary stability, but also guarantors of financial stability and emergency managers during crises. With inflation soaring worldwide, global supply chains seriously disrupted by the lingering pandemic and war in Europe, central banks are once again called upon to resolve a crisis of utmost complexity. At the same time, the traditional concept of money has come under pressure, especially its store of value and means of exchange components. This has been largely fuelled by punitive interest rates on deposits in parts of Europe and the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other digital tokens.
This course provides a solid understanding of the role of central banks, their monetary policy operations and legal frameworks that draw limits to their activities. It also examines the transnational effects of monetary policy operations that reach far beyond the borders of a central bank’s jurisdiction. The course also highlights shared principles (as well as differences) of how central banks execute their assigned tasks and pursue their objectives in different parts of the world, especially in the US, Euro-area, other parts of Europe, and Asia. This includes discussions on the concept of money and the process of its creation, the changes to the understanding of money over time, the current surge of new concepts of monetary value, and the reactions of central banks thereto, especially the concept of central bank digital currency.
2 Credits. Evaluation: Class participation and short presentations in class (30%), Final take-home exam (70%).