International Economic and Environmental Law

Economic globalization raises diverse and different challenges for States, including the integration and interdependence among markets, and the design of legal regimes pursuing the goal of economic growth and stability, without overlooking at the same time the protection of societal interests, such as the fight against environmental degradation and climate change or the safeguard of human rights.
Against this background, the course aims at widening the legal competences of students. In the first part, it aims at assessing how the participation in international economic organizations and in treaties on trade, monetary and financial cooperation may influence the States' decision making-process in the economic and social area. The second part focuses on the international environmental law, in view of gauging how its implementation at national level is determined by, and has on impact on domestic economic policies. Specific attention is devoted to the relationship among diverse substantial international regimes and to the legal instruments for settling potential conflicts and overlaps between them. As a result, the course is complementary to other courses in economic and political sciences, enabling students also to develop a critical approach in the analysis of international relations

the end of the course, students will be able to apply the fundamental concepts of public international to the study of international economic relations and to test to what extent the participation in international economic agreements may circumscribe the scope of States' leeway in the regulation of economic and social life within their territories. Through the analysis of the main treaties and the case law of international courts and tribunals, students will be able to: a) identify and apply relevant principles and rules of international law for the analysis of legal case studies concerning international economic relations and the protection of the environment; b) identify and settle potential conflicts and overlaps between different legal regimes.
The course is articulated into three modules (financial cooperation, international investment law, international environmental law). At the end of each of them, students, will be able: to detect legal rules to be applied for the settlement of case studies according to proper interpretation methodologies; to present and argue international legal issues using the proper terminology.