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International Economic Law in the 21st Century

International Economic Law in the 21st Century Constitutional Pluralism and Multilevel Governance of Interdependent Public Goods

Author: Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781849460637
Published In: July 2012
Format: Paperback , 574 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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The state-centred 'Westphalian model' of international law has failed to protect human rights and other international public goods effectively. Most international trade, financial and environmental agreements do not even refer to human rights, consumer welfare, democratic citizen participation and transnational rule of law for the benefit of citizens. This book argues that these 'multilevel governance failures' are largely due to inadequate regulation of the 'collective action problems' in the supply of international public goods, such as inadequate legal, judicial and democratic accountability of governments vis-a-vis citizens. Rather than treating citizens as mere objects of intergovernmental economic and environmental regulation and leaving multilevel governance of international public goods to discretionary 'foreign policy', human rights and constitutional democracy call for 'civilizing' and 'constitutionalizing' international economic and environmental cooperation by stronger legal and judicial protection of citizens and their constitutional rights in international economic law.

Moreover intergovernmental regulation of transnational cooperation among citizens must be justified by 'principles of justice' and 'multilevel constitutional restraints' protecting rights of citizens and their 'public reason'. The reality of 'constitutional pluralism' requires respecting legitimately diverse conceptions of human rights and democratic constitutionalism. The obvious failures in the governance of interrelated trading, financial and environmental systems must be restrained by cosmopolitan, constitutional conceptions of international law protecting the transnational rule of law and participatory democracy for the benefit of citizens.

Ernst Ulrich Petersmann is Emeritus Professor of International and European Law at the European University Institute at Florence (Italy) and former head of its Law Department. Over 35 years, he has combined academic teaching at Universities in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the USA and Asian countries with practising international economic law as legal adviser to the German Ministry of Economic Affairs, GATT and the WTO, German representative in - and legal consultant for - European and UN institutions, and as secretary, member or chairman of GATT and WTO dispute settlement panels.