International Political Economy

Afronomicslaw Academic Forum Guest Lecture Series: International Law and (the Critique of) Political Economy

This is the video recording of the Afronomicslaw Academic Forum Guest Lecture Series: International Law and (the Critique of) Political Economy with Dr. Ntina Tzouvala, Associate Professor at the ANU College of Law and Mr. John Nyanje.

An Appraisal of Promises After the Ruins: The Global Land Rush in Africa

Following the global financial crisis of 2007-08, which overlapped with a global food security crisis, the global land rush emerged as a key phenomenon that has since become the metonymic expression of the global response to these crises. Cochrane’s and Andrews’ The Transnational Land Rush in Africa: A Decade After the Spike provides a timely and necessary update of the land rush “a decade after the 2007/08 commodity price spike.” The book addresses some of the major misconceptions about the land rush on the African continent and, especially, the Eurocentric coverage of the land rush in Africa within the international political economy discourse by attending to local, national, and transnational land grabs and actors that have been largely marginalized in these debates.

Book Review of “Money Power and Financial Capital in Emerging Markets”, by Ilias Alami. Routledge, 2019

Alami’s book is particularly good at the empirics (full disclosure: I was one of the referees of this article by Alami; if my memory is correct I recommended either an immediate acceptance or publication after minor revisions). He describes and explains the ways and lengths walked by governments of these countries to manage a significant conjuncture in their recent history.

International Women's Day: In Conversation with Dr Clair Gammage

To mark the 2021 International Women’s Day themed #Choose to Challenge, Afronomicslaw.org celebrates Dr Clair Gammage’s brilliant contributions to International Trade Law and Development. Dr Gammage is an Associate Professor in International Economic Law at the University of Bristol. She has given expert evidence at the European and UK Parliaments on matters relating to trade policy.

Revisiting Africa’s Stalled Decolonization – A Response

The laws of the international trading regimes are crafted, not by Africans, but by economists and policymakers in the Global North, with the interest of the elites of the Global North at the heart of any prescriptions. That is why neoliberalism and the “free market” is sold as the panacea for Africa’s developmental impasse.

Critical Perspectives of International Economic Law

Critical perspectives can be both distinct from and form part of the broadly defined ‘socio-legal’ approach to social inquiry. To adopt a critical perspective is to commit to the project of demystifying and disrupting dominant narratives, interpretations and ways of both knowing and understanding legal phenomena. It represents a quest for truth and offers alternative ways of seeing the world around us. As such, critical perspectives encompass doctrinal, empirical and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of law. In short, it is the purpose of critical approaches to challenge and disrupt that which has been taken to be a ‘given’ in mainstream discourses and narratives

Revisiting Nigeria’s absence from the AfCFTA

Even though the political situation may have delayed Nigeria's commitment to the AfCFTA at the time of the Kigali declaration, public consultations was never a bad idea. However, the government consultation initiated by the Buhari government and facilitated by the NOTN have come and gone. After the consultations, some initial skeptics have been won over about the benefits of Nigeria signing up to the AfCFTA. However, objectors to the AfCFTA remain, who stand their ground that Nigeria is not ready to join the AfCFTA.