Investment facilitation: leaving the past behind

WTO discussions on investment facilitation have drawn attention to an issue that directly contributes to improving domestic governance, without reviving the negative experience of past multilateral investment discussions. This Perspective advances this conversation with elements from the Brazilian experience with signing investment agreements, in which facilitation is a key feature

投资便利化：超前迈进

WTO discussions on investment facilitation have drawn attention to an issue that directly contributes to improving domestic governance, without reviving the negative experience of past multilateral investment discussions. This Perspective advances this conversation with elements from the Brazilian experience with signing investment agreements, in which facilitation is a key feature

The Changing Logic of International Economic Law

Economic policies are increasingly guided by a whole set of different concerns from those that inspired International Economic Law (IEL). Instead of interdependence, trade liberalization, and market-orientation, rules and government decisions are increasingly directed to pursue goals such as reduction of dependence, resilience, autonomy, and even self-reliance. A geoeconomic logic is gradually replacing the liberal rationale that underpinned IEL for the past decades. Understanding where IEL might be headed requires an appraisal of this changing logic. This Article makes the following contributions to this effort. First, it proposes a conceptual framework centered around the notion of “geoeconomics,” which provides a coherent meaning to many developments that are transforming economic relations. The framework is unique in that it clearly outlines what is considered under the concept of geoeconomics, particularly by distinguishing it from other potentially misleading notions. This Article describes the assumptions that back the geoeconomic framework and show how they play out in practice. Thus, it sheds light on the factors driving many recent developments in the global economy which are difficult to explain from a liberal logic. Second, it contributes to sophisticate the terms of the debates among international economic lawyers that seek to address the transformations impacting IEL. These debates have neglected elements that are brought to light by the geoeconomic framework. This Article presents the insights arising from the geoeconomic framework and how they offer directions for future debates on the evolution of IEL

The turn to managed interdependence: a glimpse into the future of international economic law?

Beyond the unpredictability injected into the international order in the wake of policies adopted by the current US administration, a trend seems to be taking shape: the management of interdependence. The belief whereby increased global integration and connectivity would bring peace, stability and prosperity has never been as challenged as presently, when links between states are occasionally “weaponized” in the pursuit of goals that increasingly blur the economic, political and strategic divides. This scenario pre-dates the Trump period. It was described in an influential 2016 publication by the European Council on Foreign Relations as one where interdependence “has turned into a currency of power, as countries try to exploit the asymmetries in their relations”. In reaction, states are reassessing their exposure to an interdependent global order, seeking to mitigate perceived vulnerabilities that might stem from connectivity and openness. International law is likely to be transformed if this trend gains traction. A number of international rules and institutions were premised on – and, in fact, harnessed – the interdependence that marked the post-Cold War environment. This article offers insights into possible implications of managed interdependence for international economic law, an area where states are increasingly resorting to “economic statecraft” in order to advance strategic interests. As evidenced by the example of investment screening regulations, some of these interests — as national security – are pursued by the management of interdependence.status: Published onlin

"Beyond a seat at the table: participation and influence in global governance"

Debates on the legitimacy of global governance pay remarkably little attention to whether and how developing countries can influence global governance. Instead, the focus lies significantly on addressing legitimacy challenges such as access and exclusion in global governance. To be sure, increasing participation in global governance is a goal worth pursuing. But these debates by and large stop short of addressing a crucial question: how can weak states harness increased participation in global governance if they are ill-equipped to do so? In order to respond to this question, the present article lays down a framework of mechanisms that might induce more influence by developing countries. The article makes two claims. First, we should look beyond participation in or access to global governance and focus also on enabling influence by developing countries. Influence is the combination of two skills that need to be understood if we want to foster effective participation by developing countries: translation of global governance (understood as the ability to make sense of global discussions and to devise political reactions thereto) and empowerment to defend the interests of a country at global decision-making processes. Second, increased influence by developing countries results not only from top-down measures or reforms adopted by global governance institutions, which is the predominant approach today. Rather, influence can also result from fostering domestic capacities (actor-level mechanisms of influence) or by leveraging resources available at the international system, such as by forming coalitions or by collaborating with non-governmental organizations (system-level mechanisms). The framework thus proposed is a matrix that combines translation and empowerment at the actor- and system-levels, a framing that might contribute to advance policy and scholarly discussions on influence by developing countries.status: publishe

Trade as a tool in geopolitics

Panelist on the seminar "Trade as a tool in geopolitics", part of the European Parliament Electoral Recess Training 2019status: Unpublishe

Too Big to Heal? Macroprudential Policies in Health Governance

Amidst the many consequences it will leave in its wake, COVID-19 might reveal that global health governance should focus on systemic risk management, just as their peers in financial regulation did over a decade ago.status: Published onlin

A atuação internacional do Estado em benefício de interesses privados: uma análise jurídica da formação da "micropolítica" externa

Os juristas têm desprezado o estudo da formulação da política externa. A despeito disso, o Direito Internacional do Comércio coloca os Estados em uma posição na qual a diplomacia se confunde com a defesa dos interesses dos particulares beneficiados com tais normas. Nesse sentido, a política comercial externa deveria ser a resultante do diálogo entre governo e particulares interessados. Em tal diálogo, as normas jurídicas desempenhariam a importante função de tornar melhor o controle da formulação da política externa. O presente artigo analisa este argumento a partir do funcionamento do Órgão de Solução de Controvérsias da Organização Mundial do Comércio, especificamente o acesso das controvérsias aos Órgãos e os efeitos que suas decisões podem provocar sobre particulares