IILJ History & Theory of International Law
“Sanctions, Dollar Hegemony, and the Unraveling of Third World Sovereignty”
Presentation & Conversation with
Ntina Tzouvala, Associate Professor, ANU College of Law and Global Fellow, NUS Centre for International Law
March 29th, 2024, 1-2:30pm
22 Washington Square North
Moderated by
Noah Rosenblum, Assistant Professor, NYU School of Law
Response by
Rob Howse, Lloyd C. Nelson Professor of International Law, NYU School of Law
Thomas Streinz, Executive Director of Guarini Global Law & Tech and IILJ Fellow, NYU School of Law
The postcolonial international legal order carries within it many tensions and contradictions. Prime (but understudied) amongst them is the co-existence of a multitude of sovereign states that enjoy juridical equality with the fact that the unrivalled international status of the currency issued by one of them, the United States. In the past 15 years, the United States has been increasingly willing to directly weaponize this ‘exorbitant privilege’ through financial sanctions against geopolitical foes and ‘rogue states’. Such sanctions have triggered extensive legal debates. My paper focuses on one of the most conceptually far-reaching instances of dollar weaponization: the ongoing sanctions against Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) and, more recently, the transfer of USD3,5 billion of its assets to the Fund for the Afghan people, a non-profit based in Switzerland that has been vested with powers similar to that of a central bank. My argument is that even though the practical effects of this effort remain unclear, both its creation and the justifications put forward in its support both rely on and instantiate a vision of an international legal order that is incompatible with even the most minimalist conceptions of Third World sovereignty.
To register (and receive a draft of the paper) email jsdcoordinator@nyu.edu