96108 - Law and Globalization

Learning outcomes

The course aims to introduce students to the different legal-theoretical paradigms that compete to provide a normative understanding of the economic and political processes conventionally described as “globalisation”. These processes challenge traditional concepts of sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law. In particular, the course will examine whether and how these concepts may still be usefully employed in governing the phenomena associated with globalisation.

Course contents

Processes of globalisation foster the emergence or transformation of numerous branches of law, as well as changes in the forms taken by law and in the ways in which it is produced, interpreted and applied. Areas particularly affected include constitutional law, commercial law, environmental law, various branches of both public and private international law, and global administrative law. These processes also contribute to the spread of forms of regulation such as soft law and the lex mercatoria, to the expansion of lobbying activities and practices of jurisdiction shopping, and to the growing importance of public and private transnational actors, including international organisations, political groupings and movements, multinational corporations, non-governmental organisations, foundations, investment funds and other actors within international civil society.

The course will begin by providing a brief overview of these transformations and will then examine in greater depth five topics of particular contemporary relevance to the legal professions. These will necessarily include the rule of law, its erosion and its relationship with human rights and democracy. The other four topics will be selected also in light of the interests expressed by attending students, from among such themes as soft law, the lex mercatoria, lobbying activities, global administrative law, models of transnational governance in the public and private spheres, strategic litigation, forum shopping in international adjudication, treaty shopping and residence shopping in international tax law, and the transformation of the legal profession in the age of artificial intelligence.

The selected topics will be examined through the reading and critical discussion of five texts, chosen from institutional documents, academic articles and book chapters. The texts will be specified by the instructor and made available during the semester on the Virtuale platform.

The course will adopt a predominantly reflective approach. Rather than merely conveying knowledge of current legal and institutional arrangements, which are by their nature subject to change, it aims to prepare future legal professionals to understand critically the processes of transformation affecting those arrangements and within which they will be called upon to operate.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students

KRISTAN, M.V., L’architettura della libertà. Progettare la democrazia in un mondo globalizzato [The Architecture of Freedom: Designing Democracy in a Globalised World]. Turin: Giappichelli, 2025, Chapter 1, pp. 17–53 (“Il mondo così com’è: Le circostanze attuali del dominio globale”).

The five texts to be studied and critically discussed will be specified by the instructor and made available during the semester on the Virtuale platform. They will be selected from institutional documents, academic articles and book chapters.

Non-attending students

KRISTAN, M.V., L’architettura della libertà. Progettare la democrazia in un mondo globalizzato [The Architecture of Freedom: Designing Democracy in a Globalised World]. Turin: Giappichelli, 2025, Chapter 1, pp. 17–53 (“Il mondo così com’è: Le circostanze attuali del dominio globale”).

PELEGGI, R., Diritto privato e globalizzazione [Private Law and Globalisation]. Turin: Giappichelli, 2025, Chapter 1, pp. 13–46 (“Le passate stagioni della globalizzazione”) and Chapter 2, pp. 47–87 (“La globalizzazione nell’era della crisi e della conflittualità politica”).

The other five texts to be studied and critically discussed will be specified by the instructor and made available during the semester on the Virtuale platform. They will be selected from institutional documents, academic articles and book chapters.

ERASMUS students

Subject to prior agreement with the instructor, assigned readings in Italian may be replaced by alternative texts in other languages.

 

Teaching methods

The course will be predominantly seminar-based and organised around the reading and critical discussion of the assigned texts, rather than following an exclusively lecture-based format.

The first part of the course will provide a brief overview of the transformations of law associated with globalisation. In the subsequent parts, the instructor’s introductions will provide the context necessary for understanding each text and the issues it addresses.

Students will be expected to read the texts before the relevant classes and to participate actively in the discussion by reconstructing the arguments presented, comparing different positions, and formulating objections and independent assessments.

Assessment methods

Assessment will take the form of an oral examination consisting of the discussion of two topics: one proposed by the student and the other selected by the instructor.

The examination is intended both to ascertain the level of knowledge acquired by the student and to assess the extent to which the learning objectives of the course have been achieved, with particular regard to the student’s capacity for critical engagement with and independent analysis of the topics covered.

Teaching tools

Texts and any supplementary seminars organised by the instructor with the aim of stimulating students’ interest and encouraging their participation.

Office hours

See the website of Andrej Kristan