electiveHQ

This module examines the legal regimes governing and produced by inter-governmental organisations. This includes a consideration of the legal and conceptual nature of such organisations. It seeks to discern unity, while recognising that each organisation has its individual legal characteristics. Issues to be considered include the constitutional base, legal personality, legal powers, membership issues, voting, decision making, legal orders, accountability, responsibility, democracy, as well as emering concerns over global governance, constitutionalisation, as well as the trend towards so-called "global administrative law". A primary focus, at least initially, will be on the United Nations system. However, this course will consider a whole range of IGOs, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (IBRD), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the European Union (EU), the Organisation of American States (OAS), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).The themes that run throughout the module are:• The impact of international organisations on the international legal order;• The impact of international organisations on state sovereignty;• The theoretical underpinnings of international institutional law;• The legal nature of international organisations - are they founded upon contracts or constitutions?• The legal consequences of international organisations being legal persons;• The legal order produced by international organisations and their interrelationship;• The common legal features governing the establishment and activities of international organisations.