Menkes: Rule of Law in International Monetary and Financial Law: Reviving Old Spectres

Marcin J. Menkes (Warsaw School of Economics) has posted Rule of Law in International Monetary and Financial Law: Reviving Old Spectres (European Yearbook of International Economic Law, forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

The tenth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers insolvency, which entailed the global economic crisis, calls for a critical reexamination of the relationship between law and finance (economics). Should law be treated as an instrument of economic growth—in accordance with economic theory? Or is it the economy that should be harnessed for the society within its socio-normative framework? Accordingly, what is the normative social expectation in regards of (economic) freedom and (economic) security? Not surprisingly such dilemmas, a characteristic feature of the post-modernity, resulted in the legitimacy crisis of international monetary and financial law, which in turn brought the Rule of Law (RoL) to the forefront of the current debate on the reform of international economic law. Although RoL may provide much needed assistance in our pursuit of a more sustainable growth and equitable society, it can only do so, if we learn from past mistakes. Hence, current policies of the IMF in respect of the RoL should be put in context of complex relationship between international economic law and international economics.