Grey Zones in International Economic Law and Global Governance

Since the 2008 economic meltdown, market-driven globalization has posed new challenges for governments. This collection introduces the innovative concept of “grey zones” of global governance, where international rules are bent or ignored. These zones are significant, contested spaces for state policy and market behaviour to interact with respect to trade, the environment, food security, and investment.

Powerful incentives exist in the global economy for states to harmonize their policies through trade and investment agreements. But grey zones both promote uniformity in many areas of public life and facilitate diverse forms of capitalism in market societies. They enable governments to balance national and global economic benefits as they advance their core interests.

At a time of growing nationalist sentiment, Grey Zones in International Economic Law and Global Governance explores creative local engagement with international economic law and offers a bold new way to understand public concerns about international trade and investment, food security, green energy, subsidies, and anti-dumping actions.

Daniel Drache is a professor emeritus of political science at York University and senior research fellow at the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. His publications include Defiant Publics: The Unprecedented Reach of the Global Citizen; The Daunting Enterprise of the Law: Essays in Honour of Harry Arthurs (edited with Simon Archer and Peer Zumbasen); Linking Global Trade and Human Rights: New Policy Space in Hard Economic Times (edited with Lesley A. Jacobs); Publics rebelles: Le pouvoir sans precedent du citoyen du monde; and One Road, Many Dreams: China’s Bold Infrastructural Initiative to Re-Make the Global Economy (forthcoming, with Adam Kingsmith and Duan Qi).

Lesley A. Jacobs holds the York Research Chair in Human Rights and Access to Justice at York University, where he teaches political science and law and society. He also teaches in the Graduate Program of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School and the Graduate Program in Socio-Legal Studies. He is a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada. His many books include Rights and Deprivation; The Democratic Vision of Politics; Pursuing Equal Opportunities: The Theory and Practice of Egalitarian Justice; Balancing Competing Human Rights in a Diverse Society; Linking Global Trade and Human Rights: New Policy Space in Hard Economic Times (edited with Daniel Drache); and Privacy Rights in the Global Digital Economy: Legal Problems and Canadian Paths to Justice.

Contributors: Welber Barral, Ljiljana Biukovic, Tomer Broude, Carlos M. Correa, Thomas Cottier, Matias E. Margulis, Pitman B. Potter, Debra Steger, Katie Sykes, Yin Jiyuan

Adam Sneyd, associate professor, Department of Political Science, University of Guelph:
Drache and Jacobs offer a comprehensive account of the interface of trade law, human rights, and development. If you want to better understand global trade governance and the space governments have to pursue their own priorities, this volume is for you.