International Exchanges and Sustainability

The new, changing, and divisive issues that characterize relations between States in economic matters require students who have undertaken the Master's degree in International relations and the pathway specifically oriented toward international trade, mostly (but not only) toward a professional career with responsibilities in the production and distribution of goods and services, in public administration, interest representation, intergovernmental organizations, and, in general, companies operating in international markets and in the institutional field for relations with other countries, to learn, including in the field of law, to broaden their perspective to the global context, to challenges in terms of sustainability and innovation, to so-called glocal legal and economic behavior models, to break out of the traditional strictly domestic and European framework and, ultimately, to take note of both the interdependence of national legal and economic systems resulting from the inevitable interpenetration of markets, the fragmentation of production processes and supply chains, the widespread denationalization of economic actors, and therefore the non-neutrality of national policies and choices in all sectors affecting international trade in goods and services, as well as the impermanence of traditional models, the growing unilateralist and mercantilist trend, and the risks this entails for social, environmental, economic, and market stability. The course, in its new form that brings the theme of sustainability to the fore, aims to enable students to relate current situations to the correct international regulatory context, to recognize the underlying national interests, and to seek solutions in the rules of international law and according to the typical instruments of the WTO system (first and foremost multilateral negotiation) or those that have been added to, overlapped with, or opposed it. This objective presupposes knowledge and systematization of the rules of international law, European Union law (for example, with reference to trade defense measures or trademarks), and domestic law, which, at different levels and in different areas of interest (goods, services, intellectual property, dispute resolution), on the one hand, affect and limit the sovereignty of states in related matters, in a broad sense, the international circulation of goods and services, and on the other hand, they impose or at least suggest, in the institutionalized mechanisms of cooperation between states in economic matters, the search for a balance between conflicting national interests and, increasingly, between the objectives of economic growth and the protection of the rights and interests of the community (health, food safety, access to knowledge and information, the environment, human rights, the fight against corruption, and therefore sustainability). The course focuses on the World Trade Organization in its complex relationship with emerging unilateralist models, which are mostly linked to national security needs. The subject of exploration is the resilience—and therefore the sustainability—of the multilateral system. Students will acquire knowledge of WTO law and practice, the principles underlying the multilateral trading system (first and foremost that of mutual benefits and reciprocal obligations), and its operating mechanisms. They will become familiar with framing situations in the correct regulatory context, and thus to propose, in line with this system, possible strategies for achieving objectives in international negotiations and at the domestic level.

International trade law is increasingly called upon to mediate between the objectives of national economic growth, global growth, and the protection of the rights and interests of the community (e.g., health protection and access to medicines, access to knowledge and information, the environment, human rights, and the fight against corruption). In times of economic and social crisis such as the current one, there is a

real risk of protectionist behavior. The course, in particular through the examination of cases and monitoring of current events, aims to strengthen students' critical thinking skills so that they are able to recognize protectionist tendencies in national economic policies and link them to the possible risks with regard to the governance of relations between states. Students will learn to recognize the interests underlying each specific situation, identify the relevant rules in World Trade Organization law, and become familiar with framing cases in the appropriate regulatory context, possibly proposing different strategies at stake depending on the starting point (a specific State, the European Union, other bodies).