F1GD 4535 - Global Economic Governance (Lecture)

***UPDATED for 2025/26***

This course offers a bottom-up perspective on global economic governance. It starts from the logic of markets and economic policy-making and questions how governments, international organizations, private bodies or institutional entrepreneurs try to shape the international environment so as to make it more supportive of their transactions and investments. Lectures start with the first global era (1870-1914) and the Inter-War period: history matters but the way generic problems of global governance were addressed in the past also shed light on today’s policies (1-2). From there on, we’ll have three lectures on the IMF and sovereign debt problems (3-5), before we move to the WTO and the threat of trade wars (6), then the current crisis of its Dispute Resolution Mechanism (7). The discussion on ‘international judicialization’ then takes us straight to international arbitration (8). We’ll then explore alternate logic of coordination: mutual recognition as an alternative to inter-state treaty-making (9), and private norm-making (10). Lecture 11 will focus on sanctions and extra-territoriality in the specific case of anti-laundering policies. The last lecture is on the Covid-crisis and how it was addressed internationally (12).

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Written comments will be provided, hopefully before the final exam as for the essay, after the end of the term otherwise. Office hours are extended as much as needed so as to make sure students can come and discuss with the teacher, under the shortest possible delays. Students are also welcome to ask for an appointment later, in early spring term, so as to discuss their works.

• a 5000 words (70% of total mark).
• a final, 3 hours take home exam (30%). Three questions will be sent by email, among which students will chose one.

• In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 4 hours a week / 48 hours a semester
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 78 hours a semester