Law and Development

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) represents the most ambitious attempt to unify the continent’s markets under a single framework, with the potential not only to expand intra-African trade but also to reposition Africa within the global economy. Can the AfCFTA break Africa’s cycle of dependency and reposition the continent in the global economy? In this paper, we aim to offer an analysis of the impact of persistent colonial institutional practices on development in Africa, and the role of an African Continental Free Trade Area in articulating agency, creating shockproof economies, establishing continental trade corridors, building regional value chains, and finally asserting Africa’s position in the global economy.

The Blog Symposium is therefore a collective intellectual journey across Africa’s diverse regions, from north to south, west to east. It reflects a multiplicity of perspectives, backgrounds, and academic traditions, united by a shared commitment to Africa’s economic integration and transformation. This could have not been possible without the assistance, advise and support of Prof Olabisi Akinkugbe and the whole AfronomicsLaw team. We are grateful for this platform which is making an unprecedented contribution in amplifying African voices in the space of international (economic) law.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

While much has been written about the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), very few studies address the social, political and cultural implications of this new regional bloc from the perspective of international economic law. In this respect, Professor Kufuor’s book pushes disciplinary boundaries and presents an original account of how markets have been constituted, expanded and reformulated across Africa. Kufuor draws on a range of theoretical lenses from international political economy, jurisprudence, history, sociology and economics to critically evaluate what institutional shifts will be required at different levels of governance if the aim of pan-African unification through a rules-based order is to materialise.

The Law and Development Institute and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law will co-host the 2025 Law and Development Conference.

Join us for a roundtable discussion on the unique status of international financial institutions (IFIs) in international law. This conversation will focus on whether, in international legal terms, international financial institutions (IFIs) should be treated like any other international organization or if their specialized mission necessitates granting them a special status. It will assess the validity of the IFIs concerns that the Articles on Responsibility of International Organisations (ARIO) are not easily applied to their operations and what changes may be needed to address these concerns.

September 21, 2021

Paid Short-term Consultancy: Legal and Policy Researcher (Parental Leave Cover)

Key information:

This event is a part of Columbia Academy on Law in Global Affairs (CALGA), a series of online open-access events, in which Columbia Law School faculty present their research and debate current issues with colleagues from around the globe.

August 5, 2021

The Afronomicslaw.org Academic Forum invites you to join their next guest lecture series. 

Title

Africa as a “Theatre” of International Law and Development: Knowledge, Practice and Resistance

Date: Aug 7, 2021

Time: 17:00 CAT/ 18:00 EAT

To mark the 2021 International Women’s Day themed #Choose to Challenge, Afronomicslaw.org celebrates Professsor Olufunmilayo Arewa’s brilliant contributions to Transactional Law and Intellectual Property Law. Murray H. Shusterman Professor of Transactional and Business Law at Temple University Beasely School of Law, Professor Arewa has worked as a consultant on various projects, including engagements relating to education and scientific and technological capacity in Africa. She was also the lead consultant on a project examining the feasibility of establishing a venture capital fund in the Eastern Caribbean.