The fairness of institutions of global economic governance ranks among the most pressing issues of our time. Most approaches to understanding the complex structure of treaties and intergovernmental organizations such as the WTO tend to uncritically accept an economic focus, highlighting gains from trade and the merits of progressive trade and investment liberalization. While the economic arguments are compelling, other ways of thinking about the roles of these institutions have received less attention. The Research Handbook fills this gap by offering a substantial interdisciplinary examination of the normative and policy underpinnings of the international economic order.The book includes specially commissioned chapters based on theories of justice, human rights, and critical legal studies, as well as on economics and the internal structure of international economic law itself, all written by leading scholars in their respective fields. The contributors offer an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the relationship between international economic law and policy and the rights and welfare of peoples across the globe. The end result is an essential point of reference for developing a comprehensive toolkit for evaluating the institutions of global economic governance.

Containing extensive and significant interdisciplinary coverage of key areas of research on international economic law and policy, this Research Handbook will appeal to political scientists, philosophers, legal scholars, economists and international relations theorists.

Contributors: G. Brock, B.S. Chimni, L.V. Ciko, P. Clements, C.M. Correa, F.J. Garcia, B. He, C.L. Lim, J. Linarelli, S.M. Lundan, A. Maneschi, H. Murphy, E.-U. Petersmann