S. The Political Economy of International Law

This seminar seeks to uncover the economic and political currents that shape
international law and, in turn, the ways in which international law promotes the
economic and political interests of some while suppressing those of others. The seminar
offers a theoretical and historical framework for understanding how international law
has evolved since the nineteenth century and anticipate future trends. This analytical
framework will enable us to assess the role played not only by national governments,
but also by special interest groups, civil society activists, and courts in shaping
international law. As we will see, international law is often created not to regulate
relations among nations, but to secure the domination of one part of society over
another. Using the tools of political economy, we can pierce the veil of “the state” as a
legal and political unit in the international arena and identify the individuals and groups
pushing behind the scenes for states to adopt competing norms or join various
institutions, and the ground rules of domestic and international law that secure their
success. Employing this approach, we can assess counterintuitive explanations of how
international norms and institutions have developed and provide constructive criticism
for law-reform purposes. The seminar’s goal is not only to understand the intricacies of
the global political market and its inherent failures but also to explore how international
law and institutions might be reformed to overcome those failures. In addition to
exploring the methodology of political economy and its application to international law
in general, we will assess this methodology’s contributions to the study of specific areas
of law, such as trade law, resource management law, human rights and humanitarian
law, climate change law, and health governance law. Ultimately, the seminar will
provide participants with key theoretical lenses through which they could assess the
promise and limits of international law, and possible approaches to its modification to
improve its efficacy and legitimacy.