Just as at the time of Bretton Woods, international economic law is essential to discourage destructive national policies. But it is also vital to understand how law, regulations and institutions are located within a longer historical trajectory of colonialism, inequality and exploitation.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis demonstrate how the world today is more connected economically, socially, politically and ecologically than at any other point in history.
Actions in one country have impacts, sometimes very serious ones, on the societies, environment and economies of other countries. The globalisation of economic markets and technological change affect how countries, companies and individuals conduct economic exchange, including trade in goods and services, capital investment and financial transfers.
These developments also accelerate the social and environmental costs of transnational economic activity. For example, while products, such as mobile phones, can be used in one part of the world, their production can criss-cross multiple other geographical regions. Similarly, raw materials can be extracted from one country to be manufactured into consumer products in another.
This means that the social or environmental costs of production 鈥� such as low wages, poor health and safety standards and/or air or water pollution 鈥� are not necessarily borne by the countries or communities where the final product is sold and used by consumers.
These changes underscore the critical importance of global collective action and international economic law 鈥� the set of global rules and institutions that regulate transnational economic transactions.
As discussion turns to how international economic law deals with contemporary global problems 鈥� such as managing global supply chains, settling trade disputes, overcoming sovereign debt crises and financing transitions to low-carbon economies 鈥� it is important to consider how the historical legacies of the current system can affect its capacity to do so effectively.
This will enable us to move beyond the economics discipline鈥檚 approach to international law, which is often limited to narrowly measuring the 鈥榚ffect鈥� of different laws and legal institutions on various economic indicators, such as growth, investment and poverty. Taking this approach will enable us to explore how law is itself developed in a colonial and imperial context, which may serve to reproduce and perpetuate colonial harms and exploitation.
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