LAW-30306 Globalisation and Governance

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Law, Policy and Governance; Law and Public Power.

Contents:

This course is about the impact of globalisation on the nature and significance of law in regulating global food chains, food safety, food security and access to natural resources.
Globalisation has contributed to a tremendous increase of supra-national, international and trans-national rules and agreements as regulatory frameworks to govern global transactions. This is a complex and contested issue in both legal and social respect. A first central question of the course is how different 'global' laws in the field of food and natural resources relate to each other in legal terms. A second central question is whether the emergence of global laws has undermined or reinforced state sovereignty and the rule of law. In any case, the drafting and use of international rules and agreements is not the monopoly of states. International organisations, multinational companies, NGOs and individuals are also 'global' players. The new legal 'order' offers new opportunities or policy spaces for states, companies, NGOs and individuals alike to get or control access to food and natural resources and to regulate food chains and food safety. The involvement of various players in the making of global laws may both support and undermine the legitimacy of global law and organisations. A third central question is about the relationship between global laws and local forms of socio-legal regulation of food and access to natural resources: how have global laws affected local forms of socio-legal regulation? Are global laws dead pieces of paper at the local level, or have these laws increasingly been used as an extra legal resource to secure or improve access to food or natural resources?
Using analytical perspectives of both law and social sciences, the course wants to develop a fundamental understanding of (a) the legal complexity and interrelationships of global laws in the fields of food and natural resources, (b) the effects of globalization on interrelationships between global law, state sovereignty and local forms of socio-legal regulation (c) and the use of international law as a resource to control and access global food chains and natural resources.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course, the student is expected to:
- be able to describe how different global laws in the field of food and natural resources relate to each other in legal terms;
- know how different global laws in the field of food and natural resources are prepared, declared and ratified, what different players are involved at what stage of the process, and how this affects the recognition or legitimacy of global law;
- know how and in what ways the emergence of global law has undermined or reinforced state sovereignty, the rule of law and local forms of (legal) regulation;
- be able to analyze how states, companies, NGOs and individuals have used global laws to get or control access to food and natural resources or to regulate food chains and food safety.

Activities:

Attend lectures and presentation sessions, participate in debates on selected issues and prepare a discussion paper on course literature.

Examination:

Based on a written examination consisting of essay questions (80%) and participation in presentation sessions (20%).

Literature:

A flyer with information on format and content of this course will be available at the secretariat of the Law and Governance group, Leeuwenborch, room 148. The literature selected for this course will be available at the first lecture. Materials related to guest lectures will be made available through handouts.