Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

Political Economy and International Economic Law

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Handbooks in IPE ((PHIPE))

Abstract

This chapter examines the place of international economic law (IEL) in the study of global political economy. Law is a primary feature of our research terrain, but scholars are only slowly coming to terms with a quiet revolution in which political economy increasingly takes place in a legal frame. I advocate for a cognitive shift conceptualized as an analytic move from the study of politics and law to the study of the politics of law. The first section examines this development. The second briefly lays out two somewhat counterintuitive hypotheses about the rise of new political actors in a legalized environment. The third section considers several implications related to the deployment of theory and method in this evolving terrain of rapidly advancing legal development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alter, Karen J. 2014a. The New Terrain of International Law: Courts, Politics, Rights. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014b. The Multiplication of International Courts and Tribunals after the End of the Cold War. In The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication, ed. Cesare P.R. Romano, Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhala, Raj. 1999. The Myth About Stare Decisis and International Trade Law (Part One of a Trilogy). American University International Law Review 14 (4): 845–956.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohanes, Jan, and Fernanda Garza. 2012. Going Beyond Stereotypes: Participation of Developing Countries in WTO Dispute Settlement. Trade, Law and Development 4 (1): 45–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cho, Sungjoon. 2016. Precedent as a Social Phenomenon: System, Language and Symbol. [PDF file]. Chicago-Kent Research Paper Series. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2791744. Accessed Jan 21.

  • Cohen, Harlan Grant. 2015a. International Precedent and the Practice of International Law. In Negotiating State and Non-state Law: The Challenge of Global and Local Legal Pluralism, ed. Michael A. Helfand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015b. Theorizing Precedent in International Law. In Interpretation in International Law, ed. Andrea Bianchi, Daniel Peat, and Matthew Windsor. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooley, Alexander, and Hendrik Spruyt. 2009. Contracting States: Sovereign Transfers in International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunoff, Jeffrey L., and Mark A. Pollack, eds. 2013. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations: The State of the Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabbricotti, Alberta. 2016. Introduction. In The Political Economy of International Law: A European Perspective, ed. Alberta Fabbricotti. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franck, Susan D. 2005. The Legitimacy Crisis in Investment Treaty Arbitration: Privatizing Public International Law Through Inconsistent Decisions. Fordham Law Review 73: 1521–1625.

    Google Scholar 

  • Froese, Marc D. 2016. Mapping the Scope of Dispute Settlement in Regional Trade Agreements: Implications for the Multilateral Governance of Trade. World Trade Review 15 (4): 563–585.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2018. Sovereign Rules and the Politics of International Economic Law. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gereffi, Gary, John Humphrey, and Timothy Sturgeon. 2005. The Governance of Global Value Chains. Review of International Political Economy 12 (1): 78–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, Stephen, and A. Clair Cutler, eds. 2014. New Constitutionalism and World Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldsmith, Jack L., and Eric A. Posner. 2005. The Limits of International Law. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Peter A. 2010. "Historical Institutionalism in Rationalist and Sociological Perspective." In Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power, James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howse, Robert. 2017. International Investment Law and Arbitration: A Conceptual Framework. Institute for International Law and Justice Working Papers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurd, Ian. 1999. Legitimacy and Authority in International Politics. International Organization 53 (2): 379–408.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, John H. 1994. Interdisciplinary Approaches to International Economic Law: Reflections on the 'Boilerroom' of International Relations. American University Journal of International Law and Policy 10: 595–603.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Sovereignty, the WTO and Changing Fundamentals of International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jemielniak, Joanna, Laura Nielsen, and Henrik Palmer Olsen. 2016. Establishing Judicial Authority in International Economic Law: Introduction. In Establishing Judicial Authority in International Economic Law, ed. Joanna Jemielniak, Laura Nielsen, and Henrik Palmer Olsen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Juliet. 2016. Priests of Prosperity: How Central Bankers Transformed the Postcommunist World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone, Ian. 2013. Law-Making by International Organizations: Perspectives from IL/IR Theory. In Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations: The State of the Art, ed. Jeffrey L. Dunoff and Mark A. Pollack. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kairys, David, ed. 1998. The Politics of Law: A Progressive Critique. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koskenniemi, Martti. 2011. The Politics of International Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lake, David. 2009. Open Economy Politics: A Critical Review. Review of International Organization 4: 219–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luff, Patrick. 2016. The Political Economy of Court-Based Regulation. In Research Handbook on Political Economy and Law, ed. Ugo Mattei and John Haskell. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marceau, Gabrielle, ed. 2015a. A History of Law and Lawyers in the GATT/WTO: The Development of the Rule of Law in the Multilateral Trading System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015b. The Primacy of the WTO Dispute Settlement System. QIL, Zoom-in 23: 3–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattei, Ugo, and John Haskell, eds. 2016. Research Handbook on Political Economy and Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, Kate. 2013. The Origins of International Investment Law: Empire, Environment and the Safeguarding of Capital. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nourse, Victoria, and Gregory C. Shaffer. 2009. Varieties of the New Legal Realism: Can a New World Order Prompt a New Legal Theory? Cornell Law Review 95 (61): 63–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hara O’Connor, Erin A., and Susan D. Franck. 2014. Foreign Investments and the Market for Law. University of Illinois Law Review 5: 1617–1662.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hara, Erin A., and Larry Ribstein. 2009. The Law Market. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohlin, Jens David. 2015. The Assault on International Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pauwelyn, Joost. 2016. Minority Rules: Precedent and Participation Before the WTO Appellate Body. In Establishing Judicial Authority in International Economic Law, ed. Joanna Jemielniak, Laura Nielsen, and Henrik Palmer Olsen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelc, Krzysztof J. 2014. The Politics of Precedent in International Law: A Social Network Application. American Political Science Review 108 (3): 547–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich. 2015. The Establishment of the GATT Office of Legal Affairs and the Limits of 'Public Reason' in the GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement System. In A History of Law and Lawyers in the GATT/WTO: The Development of the Rule of Law in the Multilateral Trading System, ed. Gabrielle Marceau. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, Karl. 2001. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rittich, Kerry. 2005. Functionalism and Formalism: Their Latest Incarnations in Contemporary Development and Governance Debates. The University of Toronto Law Journal 55 (3): 853–868.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roessler, Frieder. 2015. The Role of Law in International Trade Relations and the Establishment of the Legal Affairs Division of the GATT. In A History of Law and Lawyers in the GATT/WTO: The Development of the Rule of Law in the Multilateral Trading System, ed. Gabrielle Marceau, 161–174. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romano, Cesare P.R., Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany. 2014. Mapping International Adjudicative Bodies, the Issues, and Players. In The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication, ed. Cesare P.R. Romano, Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schill, Stephan. 2009. The Multilateralization of International Investment Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, Anne-Marie. 2013. International Law and International Relations Theory: Twenty Years Later. In Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations: The State of the Art, ed. Jeffrey L. Dunoff and Mark A. Pollack. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Squatrito, Theresa. 2017. Amicus Curiae Briefs in the WTO DSM: Good or Bad News for Non-State Actor Involvement. World Trade Review 17 (1): 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steger, Debra P. 2002. Amicus Curiae: Participant or Friend? The WTO and NAFTA Experience. In European Integration and International Coordination, Studies in Transnational Economic Law in Honour of Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, ed. Armin von Bogdandy, Petros C. Mavroidis, and Yves Meny, 419–450. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004. Peace Through Trade: Building the World Trade Organization. London: Cameron May.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone Sweet, Alec, and Florian Grisel. 2017. The Evolution of International Arbitration: Judicialization, Governance, Legitimacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trachtman, Joel. 2008. The Economic Structure of International Law. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trubek, David M. 2009. The Political Economy of the Rule of Law: The Challenge of the New Developmental State. Hague Journal of the Rule of Law 1 (1): 28–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Bogdandy, Armin, and Ingo Venzke. 2014. The Spell of Precedents: Lawmaking by International Courts and Tribunals. In The Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication, ed. Cesare Romano, Karen J. Alter, and Yuval Shany. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Studies Program, Burman University, Lacombe, AB, Canada

    Marc D. Froese

Authors
  1. Marc D. Froese
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Timothy M. Shaw

  2. Bavarian School of Public Policy, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Laura C. Mahrenbach

  3. Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

    Renu Modi

  4. School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

    Xu Yi-chong

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Froese, M.D. (2019). Political Economy and International Economic Law. In: Shaw, T.M., Mahrenbach, L.C., Modi, R., Yi-chong, X. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45443-0_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation