As a preliminary point, since many countries on the African continent face serious economic shocks (a kind of crisis), and as we are (mostly) a gathering of international lawyers we should recall that there are at least two senses in which both international law has tended to be a “discipline of crisis.” This is true in at least two senses: First, in the sense of its substance and orientation being historically shaped to an extent by “crises” (e.g. World Wars 1 and 2; 9/11; underdevelopment; colonialism, etc). And second, in the sense that as its students and practitioners, we (quite understandably) love to focus on “crises”.
Cite As: Obiora Chinedu Okafor, African States’ Priorities for International Economic Law and Socio-Economic Prosperity on the Continent in this Era of Multiple Crises: Reflections on Some of the Themes in Richard F. Oppong’s Keynote Address, Volume 5, AfJIEL, (2025), 40-45.