Transnational Networks of Community and International Economic Law

Abstract

Can a perspective on the nature of international economic law be integrated with one on governance in economic networks of community? Would it be useful to reconsider international economic law in relation to transnational economic networks that create their own regulatory expectations and practices? This would be to confront a ‘top-down’ law created by states, treaties, conventions and international institutions supported by states, with the more ‘bottom-up’ production of normative understandings in networks of community. This chapter considers how such an approach may clarify the nature of law regulating transnational economic relations, and the bases of its authority and legitimacy. It draws on recent analyses of transnational private law and considers their relevance for international economic law and in highlighting the regulatory significance of networks of community. Familiar dichotomies – public and private, expert and non-expert input in regulation, top-down and bottom-up lawmaking – can be illuminated in such a perspective. The approach also emphasises a major problem for international economic law – how to avoid the remoteness of regulators from the experience and aspirations of the regulated.

Keywords: international economic law, transnational private law, networks of community, economic regulation, sociology of law