CALL FOR PAPERS: "CONCEPTUALISING ACCOUNTABILITY IN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW "

Pictures: Picture 1 downloaded from the note "ICSID and Latin America Criticism, withdrawal and the search for alternatives", available here. Picture 2 downloaded from the note: "US Supreme Court dims a light in corporate accountability", available here.

Call for papers for publication on:

“Conceptualising Accountability in International Economic Law”

University of Cagliari (Italy) Deadline for submissions of abstracts: 31/03/2014

Theme

The concept of accountability in international law is distinguished from the doctrine of responsibility and liability and refers to an ad hoc practice in international relations that seeks to ensure certain subjects do not escape with impunity when they violate norms that are considered fundamental to the interests of the international community as a whole.

Accountability has not yet acquired a clearly defined legal meaning. Originally conceived as a mechanism to be applied within the financial sphere, nowadays the concept of accountability takes different forms: judicial, political, administrative and – indeed – financial. In addition, accountability does not involve exclusively States, but also international institutions, Non-state actors and private entities – when such subjects have to respond of their performances.

Among the principal effects of the evolution of international law – and global economic relations – there is a greater focus on the relationship between rulers and ruled. The legitimacy of international rules thus begins to be determined, inter alia, by the level of accountability lying on those adopting them. This is even more so when rules and decisions are intended to affect consumers, entrepreneurs, workers and communities in general. In this scenario transparent, discrete and on-going legal constraints on particular actors and transactions may provide people an adequate opportunity to influence the content of norms impacting on them. For example, new sets of stakeholders are emerging in respect of international economic institutions such as IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO and claiming that the institutions should be accountable to them. The growing demand for more participative processes of accountability is making it a topical issue and it is creating political and cultural debates among States and scholars. Given these premises, purposes of this Volume are to shed light on aspects of accountability that have arisen in various areas of International Economic Law as well as to think over possible innovations and improvements from an international and comparative perspective.

Call

We welcome submissions that describe new (previously unpublished), cutting-edge research in the following focus areas:

• Accountability and Law of International Development Banks

• Accountability and WTO Law

• Accountability and International Financial Law

• Accountability and International Environmental and Energy Law

• Accountability and Investment Law

• Accountability and International Development Aid Law

• Accountability and Multinational Enterprises

• Accountability and Non-governmental Organisations

• Accountability and UN Agencies

• Accountability and Regional Intergovernmental Organisations

• Accountability and Law-makers



Please submit to federico.esu@gmail.com a 500-word abstract in English, with indication of the author(s), their affiliation and full contact information.

Publication

By the first week of May 2014, the Editorial Board (Professor Francesco Seatzu, Dr. Paolo Vargiu and Mr. Federico Esu) will submit the selected papers for peer-review for inclusion in a collective publication by an international legal publisher.

Possibility for a Workshop

The Organising Committee is working towards organizing an International Workshop – which would be held in Cagliari, September/October 2014 – for the contributors to present their selected papers. Each session of the Workshop would feature an invited keynote speaker and would include three additional contributors, selected through this call.

Timeline

Closing date for abstracts’ submission: 31/03/2014. Acceptance of abstracts: 15/04/2014 Deadline for draft papers’ submission: 15/07/2014. Deadline for selected final drafts’ submission: 31/07/2014

Organising Committee

Francesco Seatzu, University of Cagliari; Paolo Vargiu, University of Leicester; Federico Esu, University of Cagliari.

Should you have any questions concerning the call or the workshop, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Federico Esu at federico.esu@gmail.com