Conference: The Era of Disintegration. Taking Stock of the Dynamics of International Economic Governance in the First Two Decades of the 21st Century

On November 16, 2018, the Erasmus School of Law will host a conference on "The Era of Disintegration. Taking Stock of the Dynamics of International Economic Governance in the First Two Decades of the 21st Century." The program is here. Here's the idea:

This conference will explore the legal, socio-political, and economic dynamics set in motion by the current model of international economic integration. Whilst promising to smooth out divergences and remove barriers, the intended integrationist architecture of international and regional economic regimes seems in fact to be both sustaining and nurturing patterns of disintegration. Brexit, the Euro crisis, the US challenge to multilateralism, environmental disruptions, and resource-cursed States are just a few examples of how disintegration dynamics are unfolding rapidly at various levels.

Academics and practitioners from the fields of law, economics and philosophy of economics will analyze these patterns, trying to discern the paradox by which the very instruments and mechanisms introduced with the aim of achieving an ever-closer integration may have actually spurred centrifugal and structural fragmenting tendencies. These tendencies are visible both as disintegration of the international legal system - or some of its regimes; and as social, economic and environmental disintegration conveyed through these regimes.

In line with the aims and objectives of Erasmus Initiative of Inclusive Prosperity, panelists will use the paradox integration/disintegration to reflect on whether the current ‘integrationist’ model is in fact widening or reducing political, social and economic divergences.

The conference will blend different contributions aiming at (1) providing a deeper understanding of the interaction between ‘integrationist’ international economic norms and disintegration patterns; (2) combining law, economics and philosophy, in order to critically examine the conceptual underpinnings of international economic law and policy making; and (3) engaging in a normative exercise to envision new models of integration, which could reconcile the current international economic regime with claims of inclusiveness.