[Dr. Johan Horst] International Economic Law
Vorlesung: International Economic Law
Dozent: Dr. Johan Horst
Zeit und Ort: montags, 6. Doppelstunde, ABS/0E08/H
Beginn: 13.04.2026
Modulzuordnung: BA-IB-IEL und MA-IB-IEL
Short description:
This course introduces the core principles, rules, and institutions that govern the international economic order. It surveys the principal domains of international economic law (IEL), including the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), international investment law, regional economic integration, international monetary law, and the regulation of international financial markets. Students will also engage with the contested history of IEL, major debates of the political economy of IEL, and its intersections with human rights, environmental protection, and law and development.
Structure:
§ 1 Introduction
(What is IEL, orthodox, heterodox and postcolonial history of IEL, trade theories, goals, functions and principles of IEL, relationship between Public International Law and IEL)
§ 2 Actors and Legal Sources
(International organisations, regional organisations, private actors, sources of IEL)
§ 3 WTO Law
(Overview, main obligations, exceptions, trade defense instruments, dispute settlement, crisis of the WTO)
§ 4 Regional Economic Integration
(Overview, levels and selected examples, consequences for the multilateral, proliferation of regional dispute settlement procedures)
§ 5 International Investment Law
(investments, legal basis, basic principles of investment protection law, dispute settlement mechanism, crisis of ISDS)
§ 6 International Monetary Law & Financial Markets Law
(Bretton Woods, Currency Exchange, IMF, World Bank Group, Introduction to Financial Markets, role of private actors (ISDA), law and financial crises)
§ 7 IEL and Human Rights/Environmental Law/Development
(Regime-collisions and regime-interactions: corporate social responsibility, sustainable finance, Washington Consensus, Post-Washington Consensus and New International Economic Order)
General literature:
- Leïla Choukroune/ James J. Nedumpara, International Economic Law. Text, Cases and Materials, CUP 2022.
- Matthias Herdegen, Principles of International Economic Law, OUP (3rd ed.) 2024.
- Asif H. Qureshi/ Andreas R. Ziegler, International Economic Law, Sweet & Maxwell (4th ed.) 2019.
- Peter Van den Bossche/ Werner Zdouc, The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization, CUP (4th ed.) 2017, accessible via: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/law-and-policy-of-the-world-trade-organization/934F8BE2FAA1BE69AAAC3E0472DE3FC0
A detailed outline for each session with additional literature will be provided in class.