Dr Mohsen al Attar

Financial globalisation is convoluted. To navigate the architecture that facilitates flows of cross-border finance, it is necessary to understand a little (perhaps a lot) about the nature of commercial activity, monetary and fiscal policy, and global political economy, topics partially covered in this podcast. Central to the growth of commercial activity is capital, sometimes as equity but mostly as credit. To fund the production of tradeable goods or the delivery of tradeable services, providers need money. While this has always been true, the globalisation of a market for finance only developed during the neoliberal era; though it would be more accurate to acknowledge that the current version of financial globalisation is beset with a neoliberal personality. In the following podcast, I examine both the history of the liberalisation of capital as well as the contemporary standing of capital in IEL. 

Financial globalisation is convoluted. To navigate the architecture that facilitates flows of cross-border finance, it is necessary to understand a little (perhaps a lot) about the nature of commercial activity, monetary and fiscal policy, and global political economy, topics partially covered in this podcast. Central to the growth of commercial activity is capital, sometimes as equity but mostly as credit. To fund the production of tradeable goods or the delivery of tradeable services, providers need money. While this has always been true, the globalisation of a market for finance only developed during the neoliberal era; though it would be more accurate to acknowledge that the current version of financial globalisation is beset with a neoliberal personality. 

In the following podcast, I examine both the history of the liberalisation of capital as well as the contemporary standing of capital in IEL. 

What is neoliberalism? David Harvey provides a simple treatise on the ideology: the introduction of competitive market forces into historically non-market spheres. Since the days of democratic capitalism, healthcare, education, electricity, and water provision were  the purview of public actors. This made sense. As necessities of life, these would be allocated universally rather than preferentially. Neoliberalism reject this logic, advocating for the subjugation of essential services to market logics of efficiency, competitiveness, and purchase-power based allocation. Of course, the promise was not that the rich would line their pockets but that the increased competitiveness would enhance efficiency and place downward pressure on prices. Public assets were sold, public services were privatised, and taxes were slashed all in the name of public welfare. Even Orwell was never so brazen. In the following episode, I detail the rise of neoliberalism and its implications for international economic law. 

What is neoliberalism? David Harvey provides a simple treatise on the ideology: the introduction of competitive market forces into historically non-market spheres. Since the days of democratic capitalism, healthcare, education, electricity, and water provision were  the purview of public actors. This made sense. As necessities of life, these would be allocated universally rather than preferentially. Neoliberalism reject this logic, advocating for the subjugation of essential services to market logics of efficiency, competitiveness, and purchase-power based allocation. Of course, the promise was not that the rich would line their pockets but that the increased competitiveness would enhance efficiency and place downward pressure on prices. Public assets were sold, public services were privatised, and taxes were slashed all in the name of public welfare. Even Orwell was never so brazen. In the following episode, I detail the rise of neoliberalism and its implications for international economic law. 

What is neoliberalism? David Harvey provides a simple treatise on the ideology: the introduction of competitive market forces into historically non-market spheres. Since the days of democratic capitalism, healthcare, education, electricity, and water provision were  the purview of public actors. This made sense. As necessities of life, these would be allocated universally rather than preferentially. Neoliberalism reject this logic, advocating for the subjugation of essential services to market logics of efficiency, competitiveness, and purchase-power based allocation. Of course, the promise was not that the rich would line their pockets but that the increased competitiveness would enhance efficiency and place downward pressure on prices. Public assets were sold, public services were privatised, and taxes were slashed all in the name of public welfare. Even Orwell was never so brazen. In the following episode, I detail the rise of neoliberalism and its implications for international economic law. 

What is neoliberalism? David Harvey provides a simple treatise on the ideology: the introduction of competitive market forces into historically non-market spheres. Since the days of democratic capitalism, healthcare, education, electricity, and water provision were  the purview of public actors. This made sense. As necessities of life, these would be allocated universally rather than preferentially. Neoliberalism reject this logic, advocating for the subjugation of essential services to market logics of efficiency, competitiveness, and purchase-power based allocation. Of course, the promise was not that the rich would line their pockets but that the increased competitiveness would enhance efficiency and place downward pressure on prices. Public assets were sold, public services were privatised, and taxes were slashed all in the name of public welfare. Even Orwell was never so brazen. In the following episode, I detail the rise of neoliberalism and its implications for the international economic law framework. 

Cotton is a subtropical plant that grows just north of the Equator and across three continents: Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Despite European familiarity with cotton—thanks to Muslim and Asian traders—Europeans could not grow cotton. The cotton products they obtained were already manufactured, denying them the greatest added-value. At least this was the state of affairs until Vasco de Gama discerned a route to the Indian subcontinent, allowing Europeans to bypass the Ottoman middlemen. 

To resolve the problem of resource constraints, Europeans seized the resources of others. Imperial expansion, expropriation, armed trade, enslavement, espionage, and other forms of organised violence disrupted traditional supply chains, substituting them with a Eurocentric one. And from there, European companies began to flood global markets with cotton goods. In the end, and as I explore in this episode, commerce and European access to the resources | markets of non-Europeans came to inform the modern international legal framework in operation today. 

Cotton and the Origins of Trans-Oceanic Trade | IEL Episode 3 - Part ACotton is a subtropical plant that grows just north of the Equator and across three continents: Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Despite European familiarity with cotton—thanks to Muslim and Asian traders—Europeans could not grow cotton. The cotton products they obtained were already manufactured, denying them the greatest added-value. At least this was the state of affairs until Vasco de Gama discerned a route to the Indian subcontinent, allowing Europeans to bypass the Ottoman middlemen. 

To resolve the problem of resource constraints, Europeans seized the resources of others. Imperial expansion, expropriation, armed trade, enslavement, espionage, and other forms of organised violence disrupted traditional supply chains, substituting them with a Eurocentric one. And from there, European companies began to flood global markets with cotton goods. In the end, and as I explore in this episode, commerce and European access to the resources | markets of non-Europeans came to inform the modern international legal framework in operation today. 

Cotton is a subtropical plant that grows just north of the Equator and across three continents: Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Despite European familiarity with cotton—thanks to Muslim and Asian traders—Europeans could not grow cotton. The cotton products they obtained were already manufactured, denying them the greatest added-value. At least this was the state of affairs until Vasco de Gama discerned a route to the Indian subcontinent, allowing Europeans to bypass the Ottoman middlemen. 

To resolve the problem of resource constraints, Europeans seized the resources of others. Imperial expansion, expropriation, armed trade, enslavement, espionage, and other forms of organised violence disrupted traditional supply chains, substituting them with a Eurocentric one. And from there, European companies began to flood global markets with cotton goods. In the end, and as I explore in this episode, commerce and European access to the resources | markets of non-Europeans came to inform the modern international legal framework in operation today. 

Cotton is a subtropical plant that grows just north of the Equator and across three continents: Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Despite European familiarity with cotton—thanks to Muslim and Asian traders—Europeans could not grow cotton. The cotton products they obtained were already manufactured, denying them the greatest added-value. At least this was the state of affairs until Vasco de Gama discerned a route to the Indian subcontinent, allowing Europeans to bypass the Ottoman middlemen. 

To resolve the problem of resource constraints, Europeans seized the resources of others. Imperial expansion, expropriation, armed trade, enslavement, espionage, and other forms of organised violence disrupted traditional supply chains, substituting them with a Eurocentric one. And from there, European companies began to flood global markets with cotton goods. In the end, and as I explore in this episode, commerce and European access to the resources | markets of non-Europeans came to inform the modern international legal framework in operation today. 

Students are forever struggling to improve their writing skills. The goal, however, alludes, bobbing and weaving like a prize-fighter. In the following podcast, I detail steps you can undertake to achieve greater efficiency, even elegance, in your writing. Key to this is what I term 'segmenting'. By segmenting your writing, you can move through each component – content, structure, and style – more efficiently, dedicating the requisite energy to a single task rather than melding and thus confusing all three. 

The greatest advantage to this approach is that it facilitates your ability to make intelligent choices throughout the writing process. By targeting each component separately, you come to appreciate how they vibe (and when they clash), developing the proficiency needed to leverage the components toward the production of elegant compositions. Follow these steps and you will quickly extricate yourself from the sludge of inefficient writing.

Students are forever struggling to improve their writing skills. The goal, however, alludes, bobbing and weaving like a prize-fighter. In the following podcast, I detail steps you can undertake to achieve greater efficiency, even elegance, in your writing. Key to this is what I term 'segmenting'. By segmenting your writing, you can move through each component – content, structure, and style – more efficiently, dedicating the requisite energy to a single task rather than melding and thus confusing all three. 

The greatest advantage to this approach is that it facilitates your ability to make intelligent choices throughout the writing process. By targeting each component separately, you come to appreciate how they vibe (and when they clash), developing the proficiency needed to leverage the components toward the production of elegant compositions. Follow these steps and you will quickly extricate yourself from the sludge of inefficient writing.

International economic law is the regulatory regime for global capitalism. But what is capitalism and how did to rise to the status of sacred economic model? In this episode, I examine first the nature of markets as political and economic spaces. Next, I discuss historical developments in Europe that allowed for the emergence of a 'rational legal system'. Following the lead of Max Weber, I explore the characteristics of a rational legal system and its centrality in the establishment of a capitalist model of economic and social organisation. 

International economic law is the regulatory regime for global capitalism. But what is capitalism and how did to rise to the status of sacred economic model? In this episode, I examine first the nature of markets as political and economic spaces. Next, I discuss historical developments in Europe that allowed for the emergence of a 'rational legal system'. Following the lead of Max Weber, I explore the characteristics of a rational legal system and its centrality in the establishment of a capitalist model of economic and social organisation. 

International economic law is the regulatory regime for global capitalism. But what is capitalism and how did to rise to the status of sacred economic model? In this episode, I examine first the nature of markets as political and economic spaces. Next, I discuss historical developments in Europe that allowed for the emergence of a 'rational legal system'. Following the lead of Max Weber, I explore the characteristics of a rational legal system and its centrality in the establishment of a capitalist model of economic and social organisation. 

International economic law is the regulatory regime for global capitalism. But what is capitalism and how did to rise to the status of sacred economic model? In this episode, I examine first the nature of markets as political and economic spaces. Next, I discuss historical developments in Europe that allowed for the emergence of a 'rational legal system'. Following the lead of Max Weber, I explore the characteristics of a rational legal system and its centrality in the establishment of a capitalist model of economic and social organisation. 

In the third and fourth parts of the introductory episode, I describe the three major theories in international political economy: mercantilism, liberalism, and Marxism. Through its various iterations, international economic law has consistently been informed by the first two and critiqued by the third. Hints of the third are evident in some legal treaties but the international legal order remains conflicted between its mercantile and liberal tendencies. 

In the third and fourth parts of the introductory episode, I describe the three major theories in international political economy: mercantilism, liberalism, and Marxism. Through its various iterations, international economic law has consistently been informed by the first two and critiqued by the third. Hints of the third are evident in some legal treaties but the international legal order remains conflicted between its mercantile and liberal tendencies. 

In the second part of the introductory episode, I describe the putative 'birth' of IEL. As observed before, it dates back to mercantilism, imperialism, and colonialism but many texts on IEL return to the period immediately following the Second Great European War for the beginning. Of particular interest in this part is the clash between Keynesianism (compassionate liberalism some term it) and central | planned economies. 

Central to the study of international law is international economic law. Indeed, much of what emerged in IL was provoked by the economic rapprochement of European nations during the mercantile period but also the plunder of the Third World pursued by the First. Of course, international economic law was not devised solely to mediate economic relations but also to structure the distribution of finite resources to a growing global population. 

In the first episode, I explain how an assumption - prosperity for all - and a theory - comparative advantage - were devised to justify the adoption of liberalism in the development of international economic order.