International Economic Law

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'.

Electricity security is in today’s world a critical component for a well-functioning economy. Many African countries rely heavily on fossil fuels for electricity generation, while others have successfully harnessed renewable energy sources – Kenya being an example, with over 80% of its power generation being from renewable energy sources. With the global push to de-carbonise national economies, particularly the power sector, the interdependence of countries through electricity trade will become increasingly important. Countries are now only looking to develop their own clean energy capacity, but will in future, also seek to harness that of neighouring countries through cross-border power trade.

As observed by the International Energy Agency’s most recent World Energy Outlook, the Covid-19 crisis has underlined the importance of a reliable, affordable and secure electricity supply that is able to accommodate sudden changes in behaviour and economic activity, while continuing to support vital services. The electricity sector will play a key role in supporting economic recovery, and an increasingly important long-term role in providing the energy that the world needs, as it evolves into a system with lower CO2 emissions and enhanced flexibility.

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

It is accepted that legal doctrine is a normative discipline, which is not only describing and systematising norms, but also predominantly a discipline which takes normative positions and makes choices among values and interests. Consequently, the quest to find “better law” by adopting certain interpretative or normative positions often leads to elements external to law and legal doctrine such as philosophy, morals, history, sociology, economy, and politics. Hence, looking for better law involves empirical research particularly as better, in the context of this post, refers to a historical and sociological perspective on the balancing of the Eurocentric make-up of international law. Thus, the teaching of precolonial African trade usages should be explicitly embedded into the public international law (and international trade law) curriculum in Nigerian universities. This has already been done in international relations programmes in some Nigerian universities.

The Afronomicslaw Academic Forum is an inclusive space that brings together undergraduate and graduate students and early career researchers who are interested in international economic law (IEL) matters as they relate to Africa and the Global South. The Academic Forum is part of Afronomicslaw, an academic and political project that ‘focuses on IEL themes as they relate to Africa and the Global South. A major goal of Afronomicslaw is to amplify the voices and issues that are not often part of the conversation in the scholarship and practice of IEL.

The Mandela Institute, a centre situated within the Wits School of Law, invite you to a series of three book launch webinars which will discuss chapters of the book INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW - (Southern) African Perspectives and Priorities.

It is apparent that the issue of private creditors in relation to African sovereign debt is a ticking timing bomb in Africa. Africa, though rich in minerals, has slow economic growth and a serious debt problem. There is thus a need for a harmonised legal framework that deals with the issue of sovereign debt, set a limit on debt levels, and outlines how debt restructuring should occur. Africa cannot afford to wait for the active buy-in of other multilateral players in order to develop this legal framework; Africa needs to drive this initiative. In addition, both players—being African countries and private creditors—must take responsibility to avoid reckless lending. This can also be addressed in a much-needed comprehensive legal framework.

This blog piece is a reflection on the core arguments from this conference. Notably, Prof. Arewa explored the broader relationship between Africa and international law governance. Within this general theme, Prof. Arewa discussed the link between copy-and-paste laws, the relationship between internal and external legal perspectives, the importance of measurement systems, the lack of understanding of our legal systems, and Africa's place in the COVID-19 vaccine struggle. This piece will evaluate Prof. Arewa and other speakers' thoughts on how COVID-19 brought Africa's broader problems into light, as well as the measures that could be taken to pivot for effective African solutions. This piece will specifically outline the speakers' views on the place and benefits of regional integration and the emerging digital economy's benefits to Africa. Finally, the piece will conclude by drawing the recommendations made as a way forward for Africa.

August 2, 2021

Call for Regional Representatives for the Afronomicslaw Academic Forum (West Africa) 
Opening 2 August 2021 - Midnight 21 August, 2021

I. Background