Welcome to the Second Issue of the African Journal of International Economic Law (AfJIEL). The on-going COVID-19 global pandemic provides an important background for this volume. It is therefore unsurprising that a central theme that runs through the articles in this issue is the impact of the pandemic on the states and peoples of the Global South. Indeed, the articles by Katrin Kuhlmann, Chris Changwe Nshimbi, and Okanga Okanga & Lyla Latif emerged in part from the Symposium on ‘Vulnerabilities in the Trade and Investment Regimes in the Age of COVID-19’ convened by Olabisi Akinkugbe and Clair Gammage on the Afronomicslaw Blog.
The second issue of the Af JIEL furthers our commitment to centering critical analysis of international economic law as they relate to Africa and the Global South. There are five lead articles, a feature analysis of African practice in international economic law, a case note, and two book reviews in this issue. The articles cover a broad range of issues including digital regulation of Africa’s female farmers, debt sustainability and the reform of the International Monetary Fund, informality and the future of work in Africa, tax vulnerability in an era of inclusive global governance as well as the comparative lessons that the regulation of trade and development in Africa offers for the global regime. Our African Practice of International Economic Law analyzes developments at the regional, sub-regional and national levels that are worthy of note in the 2020-2021 calendar. The Case Note analyzes the Panel Report of the World Trade Organization in the Morocco – Definitive Anti-Dumping Measures on School Exercise Books from Tunisia. Building on our feature essays in the inaugural issue, this Issue includes two Book Reviews.
Cite as: O.D. Akinkugbe and J.T. Gathii, Introduction to Issue 2 of the African Journal of International Economic Law, Volume 2, AfJIEL, (2021), 7-10.