Fourth African International Economic Law Network Biennial Conference Symposium

In July 2019, the African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN), held its Fourth Biennial Conference under the theme “Africa and International Economic Law in the 21st Century” at the Strathmore University Law School (Nairobi, Kenya). This symposium contains some of the papers presented at this conference in their abridged forms. Before introducing the authors’ views on this Conference’s broader theme, we provide the important context under which the Conference took place.The AfIELN Fourth Biennial Conference came at a time when the African Union Members had just launched the operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose Agreement was signed in March 2018 and entered into force in May 2019. The main objective of the AfCFTA is to create a single market for goods, services, facilitated by movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration of the African continent. It also seeks to resolve the challenges of multiple and overlapping memberships that have hindered regional integration projects in Africa. The signing of the AfCFTA succeeded the efforts to modernise African investment regimes that culminated in the adoption of the Pan-African Investment Code (PAIC) in 2016. More than 80 papers spread across 20 panels were presented at the Conference. These papers not only engaged with the issues raised by these treaties and codes, but also other aspects of African international economic law, including, but not limited to, the external dimension of African countries trade policies and WTO issues

International Economic Law in the Global South and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all facets of human relations on a magnitude not witnessed in the post-World War II era. Due to the interdependence of countries in the international system, it is not surprising that the unfolding public health crisis has had significant ramifications for the functioning of the global economy as well. In responding to this global health crisis, and the associated fallouts, the academic community has a crucial role to play in finding solutions to the hydra-headed problems we all face.Driven by this sense of urgency and responsibility, AfronomicsLaw put out a call for contributions in April 2020 for a symposium issue focusing on COVID-19 and International Economic Law in the Global South. This Symposium will last for a full four weeks.This paper provides a broad summary of the 37 insightful essays accepted for the symposium issue. The essays have been grouped into four major themes: (1) International Trade and International Investment Law and Policy, (2) Intellectual Property, Technology and Agriculture, (3) Sovereign Debt, Finance and Competition Law, and (4) Governance, Rights and Institutions

Symposium Introduction: Teaching and Researching International Law – Global Perspectives

Welcome to the Teaching and Researching International Law – Global Perspectives Symposium. This series of blog posts gathers perspectives from international law teachers, researchers and students from different regions and all stages of their careers and legal education, to reflect together on common challenges and imagined futures of our profession. This Symposium is held in a moment of great uncertainty – but also of possibility: the Critical Pedagogy Symposium recently held on Opinio Juris offered thought-provoking commentary from across the globe on critical international pedagogy and the virtual space, while the forthcoming TWAILR series on Critique and the Canon promises stimulating discussion on balancing doctrinal rigour and critical engagement in the classroom. With the pressure of the pandemic, populist isolationism and – in some countries – tightening national budgets for education, there is no better time to have this conversation than now