International Legal Orders and Their Histories

Convened by Professors Grainne de Burca and Benedict Kingsbury

The theme in Spring 2016 was International Legal Orders and Their Histories. It encompassed the idea of order and the private and public production of order; distinctive features in the formation, institutionalization, functioning, modification, and displacement of international legal orders; historical and contemporary relations among economic, political, social, and legal orders; problem and possibilities of overlapping and conflicting orders; and connections with other values such as rule of law, justice, and efficiency. A particular focus was on historical and contemporary relations between global economic forces, liberal order, and international law.

Public sessions:

Monday, January 25
Robert Howse, NYU Law School, “The World Trade Organization 20 Years On: Two Decades of Judicial Activism and Political Impasse”

Monday, February 1
Billy Melo Araujo, Law School, Queen’s University Belfast, “New Mega-Regional Trade Agreements and the Reach of the World Trade System”

Monday, February 8
Katharina Pistor, Columbia Law School, “Territory vs Money: Law and the Changing Sources of Power in Global Affairs”

Monday, February 22
Turkuler Isiksel, Political Science Dept, Columbia, “Wealth and the Commonwealth: Virtue, Law, and Commerce in Eighteenth Century Political Thought”

Monday, March 7
Nehal Bhuta, Law Dept, European University Institute, Italy, “International Order and the State: Theories of the State in Grotius”

Monday, March 28
Beth Simmons, Government Department, Harvard, “Order and Territorial Boundaries”

Monday, April 11
Katerina Linos, Law School, Berkeley, “The Language of Compromise in International Agreements”

Monday, April 25
Lauren Benton, Dean of Arts & Sciences, Vanderbilt University, “The Imperial Promise of Protection” from Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800-1850