Dr Mona Pinchis-Paulsen

This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time), MSc in Development Studies and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSE for You.

None. Students with no previous background in public international law may find it helpful to consider consulting a standard textbook such as M. Evans (ed.), International Law (OUP, 5th ed., 2018) or J. Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (OUP, 9th ed., 2019).

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the multilateral trading system, particularly the law governing international trade as established by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The course begins with an intellectual history of international trade theory and policy, and introduces students to major competing perspectives on trade and globalization. The course proceeds to concentrate on the WTO agreements’ coverage of goods and services, dispute settlement procedures, and transparency mechanisms. In addition, the course will explore specialized areas of international trade regulation, such as health standards and safety, contingent protection measures, agriculture, intellectual property, and environment.

Beyond the detailed coverage of WTO law, the course emphasizes in-depth analysis of the history and the political economy of international trade law. We will carefully examine what WTO legal institutions do and how they operate to understand how the law and institutions of the WTO impact national regulation and policy goals. We will also evaluate how economic, political, and social questions have shaped, and may continue to shape, the decision-making, trade negotiations, and dispute settlement processes of the WTO. Finally, with our study of WTO functions, legal disciplines, and case law we will develop informed assessments of the future governance of the WTO, particularly in light of the WTO’s diverse membership and current global concerns, such as cybersecurity, pandemics, and climate change.

Students interested in development and public international law may complement this course with LL4AV: International Economic Law and Development.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 20 hours in Michaelmas Term. Students will usually have two additional hours in the Summer Term. This year teaching will be delivered through recorded online lectures and a mix of both in-person and online classes to accommodate students who are unable to physically be on campus. This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Michaelmas Term.

One 2,000 word essay.

Reading lists will be provided for each seminar on Moodle. Relevant readings may include: P. Van den Bossche & W. Zdouc, The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization: Text, Cases and Materials (CUP, 4th ed., 2017). J. Pauwelyn, A. Guzman, & J. Hillman, International Trade Law (Aspen, 3rd ed., 2016); and M. Matsushita et al., The World Trade Organization: Law, Practice, and Policy (OUP, 3rd ed., 2017). Primary WTO source materials are available for download from the WTO website.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.