The fundamental recognition in this book is that the issue of what international legal principles are applicable to the operations of the IFIs is an important topic that would benefit from more rigorous study. Twelve deeply committed contributors - whose work spans the academic, policy, and activist spectrum - suggest that a better understanding of these legal issues could help both the organizations and their Member States structure their transactions in ways that are more compatible with their developmental objectives and their international responsibilities.
In this new volume in the Elements series, Daniel D. Bradlow traces the history and development of international law and international financial institutions from 1918 to today, providing a detailed overview of the legal frameworks within which such institutions were established and operate, and which structure their relationships with their member states and their citizens. The book opens with the inter-war years, the Bretton Woods Conference, and background on the treaties establishing the IMF and the World Bank. It then discusses the Articles of Agreement of the IMF and the IBRD, providing information on their governance arrangements, mandates, and operating principles. The international legal status of these two international financial institutions, their international legal rights, responsibilities and obligations, and their privileges and immunities are also examined. In later chapters, the book explores how the structure, functions, and operations of the World Bank and IMF have evolved since their establishment and examines the regional development banks and the regional financial arrangements that were created after them. The book concludes by exploring the challenges that international financial institutions are currently facing, and the contributions that international law can make to help them successfully meet these challenges.
Analysing the emerging international legal framework governing financial institutions and markets, including monetary policies and monetary regulation, this book addresses the cross border issues that arise within this area. It highlights the lack of formal international law present, and shows how this contributed to the global financial crisis.
This first volume of the AIIB Yearbook of International Law (AYIL), edited by Peter Quayle and Xuan Gao, is based upon the inaugural 2017 AIIB Legal Conference, both titled, Good Governance and Modern International Financial Institutions (IFIs). Following a Preface by the General Counsel of the AIIB and General Editor of AYIL, Gerard Sanders, and an Introduction by the Editors, this volume of AYIL draws upon expertise from other IFIs, international law and governance practitioners, and eminent academics. It is divided into three parts to reflect a series of dimensions to the good governance of IFIs. Firstly, the role of the membership of IFIs as expressed through their executive governance organs. Second, the legal basis of governance of IFIs. And third, the interaction around governance between IFIs and external stakeholders. This volume concludes with the text of the 2017 AIIB Law Lecture, delivered by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel, Miguel de Serpa Soares on the subject of ‘The Necessity of Cooperation between International Organizations’ and a summary report on the proceedings of the 2017 AIIB Legal Conference. The first volume of AYIL was launched at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the AIIB in Mumbai, India, June 2018.
This book focuses on the legal challenges and opportunities for International Financial Institutions in the post-crisis world. It includes contributions from academics, practitioners and Bank staff. The contributions cover a broad array of issues, included governance reform and constitutional framework of IFIs, privileges and immunities, responsibility of international organizations, issues related to fragile and conflict-affected states, climate finance, and the recent financial crisis. The book is organized in three main areas, namely (i) Law of International Organizations: Issues Confronting IFIs; (ii) Legal Obligations and Institutions of Developing Countries: Rethinking Approaches of IFIs; and (iii) International Finance and the Challenges of Regulatory Governance.
This book focuses on the legal challenges and opportunities for International Financial Institutions in the post-crisis world. It includes contributions from academics, practitioners and Bank staff. The contributions cover a broad array of issues, included governance reform and constitutional framework of IFIs, privileges and immunities, responsibility of international organizations, issues related to fragile and conflict-affected states, climate finance, and the recent financial crisis. The book is organized in three main areas, namely (i) Law of International Organizations: Issues Confronting IFIs; (ii) Legal Obligations and Institutions of Developing Countries: Rethinking Approaches of IFIs; and (iii) International Finance and the Challenges of Regulatory Governance.
This is the first volume to comprehensively and systematically study, describe, and theorize the financial obligation created and governed by public international law. Legal globalization has given rise to a number of financial issues in international law in areas as diverse as development financing, investment protection, compensation of human rights victims, and sovereign debt crises. The claims resulting from the proliferation of financial activity are not limited to those primarily involving financial obligation (e.g. loans and grants) but include secondary obligation resulting from the law on international responsibility. Among the many instances of financial obligation covered in this study, the reader will find inter-State financial transactions, inter-State sale of goods, transnational services such as telecommunications and post, the financial operations of multilateral institutions, loans, grants and guarantees provided by the various international financial institutions, certain financial relations between non-State actors (including natural persons) and States, intergovernmental organizations or other international legal actors, and government loans to international organizations. Rich in historical detail and systematic in its coverage of contemporary law, this book will be valued by all practitioners and scholars with an interest in the nature of international financial obligation.
Since the recent international crises, the role and significance of international financial institutions (IFI) have been challenged. Some have argued that global financial institutions are inadequate and inefficient in performing their missions, and may be replaced by modern institutions with inclusive governance and a goal-focused approach. International Financial Institutions and Their Challenges analyzes the claimed purposes of IFIs and their failures, and proposes solutions for the future. This comprehensive account is the first book of its kind to give readers an exhaustive overview of key IFI's from the International Monetary Fund to the Islamic Development Bank. By encouraging readers to think outside the box, Lessambo enhances the current and future debates on IFIs. The book brings readers to the real challenges of international finance, and appeals to scholars in economics, finance, international studies, government studies, law, and political science, as well as professionals in finance, development experts, and employees at NGOs.
The early twenty-first century has seen a conspicuous absence of formal international law concerning money and finance. This book argues that this lack of formal international regulation was a significant contributing factor to the global financial crisis that began in 2007. It focuses on this lack of global substantive principles and 'hard law' rules in the field of financial regulation and monetary affairs, and analyses the emerging framework within international law that aims to govern financial institutions and markets. The global financial crisis has demonstrated the essential need for financial and monetary regulatory reform, and for the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for the settlement of financial disputes and for the regulation of cross-border financial institutions. This book therefore presents the foundations of solutions that could fill these critical gaps in international financial law. It addresses cross-border issues, financial regulation, and provides detailed analyses of monetary policies and regulation. This book is an updated collection of papers first published in the Special Edition of the Journal of International Economic Law on 'The Quest for International Law in Financial Regulation and Monetary Affairs' (Volume 12, Number 3, September 2010), which also show that the regulatory hands-off approach was not replicated in other areas of international economic law. International trade regulation witnessed an increased number of international rules and the reinforcement of a rule-oriented, if not rule-based, approach. Judicial dispute settlement and retaliation, exclusively based upon international ruling and authorization, was reinforced. Given the importance of trade regulation and WTO law, which has an established institutional and legal framework, the book therefore provides a much-needed comparative approach.
This book explores the human rights obligations of two of the largest international financial institutions,namely, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Based on international legal methodology, this book addresses these two institutions in public international law, and assesses the extent to which international law provides foundations for obligations in the field of human rights. This book analyses any possible obligations related to the effect of the two institutions own programmes and projects. The core of this analysis is focused on the two institutions international legal personality, and addresses their relationship to international law as legal subjects, rather than as a collectivity of states with international legal personality. Building on the traditional sources of international law, such as customary international law, general principles of international law and treaty law, the book concludes that the two institutions are under an obligation to respect human rights in their operations. This implies that they will break their obligations if they make the human rights situation worse as a result of their programmes or projects. It also concludes that the World Bank and the IMF are not under obligations to promote or fulfil human rights, but that they may legitimately do so if they can do it within their Articles of Agreement (the treaties establishing the institutions). The book also looks at the practical implications of the obligation to respect, which involves both substantial and procedural obligations. These obligations will, even if limited in their scope, imply that the two institutions need to include human rights checks in the planning, implementation and evaluation stages of projects and programmes. The final part of the book looks at redress possibilities in situations where either of the two institutions may be in breach of their human rights obligations.
