African Continental Free Trade Agreement

Development Opportunities in the Wake of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) needs no introduction anymore. It is arguably the African Union’s biggest project since the launch of Agenda 2063 in January 2013, which is our blueprint for sustainable development and economic growth of our Continent.

Book Review: The Emergent African Union Law: Conceptualisation, Delimitation and Application. Olufemi Amao, Michèle Olivier and Konstantinos D. Magliveras (eds)

This substantial volume sets out to establish the case for recognition of a new field of law. The editors propose a concept of African Union (AU) law – by analogy with the established body of European Union (EU) law – and argue for the need for such a concept in order to create “a platform to examine legal developments in Africa from an Afrocentric perspective”.

Call for Papers: The Digitalizing Continent: Examining Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Transformation for Africa

This Call for Papers and workshop, hosted by the Competence Center for African Research (CCAR), University of St.Gallen jointly with the Afronomicslaw.org, seeks to examine the ongoing effort towards digital transformation, and particularly E-Commerce.

A Reflection on African Trade and Investment Wars in Context

In this essay, we center some of the intra-African trade wars in context. First, these trade and investment wars reveal the ways in which investors maneuver and respond to the hostile regulatory actions of a hegemon state by moving their investments to a friendlier economy. Our first example between Uganda falls into this category. In response to the actions of the Kenyan government, the investors secured market access in Zambia. Zambia thus became a beneficiary of the trade war between Uganda and Kenya. Second, the trade and investment wars bode well for the future of trade liberalization in Africa under the AfCFTA because this probably points to rising trade volumes between African states. Third, as we show in the context of the examples we discuss, the citizens of States that have taken the more hardline posture on the regulatory measure at the heart of the trade and investment war appear to be worse off in their capacity to generate sustained economic development. Fourth, in some cases, African trade and investment wars are caused by socio-economic conflicts. The xenophobic attacks in South-Africa are illustrative of this example. The xenophobic attacks often escalate to trade wars and retaliatory economic backlashes. Fifth and finally, we loop in the AfCFTA and arguethat the trade wars remain a threat to the realization of the promise of the AfCFTA.

Afronomicslaw Academic Forum Inaugural Conference: Critical and Contextual Perspectives on International Economic Law: Amplifying the Voices of African Students and Early-Career Researchers

January 24, 2022

We are delighted to invite you to the inaugural Afronomicslaw Academic Forum Annual Conference. The Online Conference is scheduled for the 5th of February 2022. This inaugural conference is co-sponsored by the African Sovereign Debt Justice Network (AfSDJN) and the African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN).

The conference's theme is: 'Critical and Contextual Perspectives to International Economic Law: Amplifying the Voices of African Students and Early-career Researchers'.

Inaugural World Arbitration Update: Africa and MENA Reasserting A Protagonist Role in the Arbitration Scene

These recent procedural and substantive trends encompassed in the WAU conference demonstrate a renewed and welcomed interest for arbitration of mega disputes in the African continent and the MENA region, both international arbitration hubs that are gaining prominence. Whilst challenges remain, biases against arbitrating disputes in these regions are being debunked by the experience of Africa and MENA with dispute resolution, the advent of institutions and “arbitration friendly” jurisprudence.