International economic law is undergoing drastic changes. The traditional rules-based system is under pressure from rising populism, protectionism, and geopolitical tensions. War, the climate crisis, persistent inequalities, and other policy challenges have added further stress to the system. Partly as a response, the modes of governance that dominate international economic law are in the process of changing. As US national security advisor Jake Sullivan provocatively put it, "[f]or the problems we are trying to solve today, the traditional model doesn't cut it." Unilateral measures -- from carbon border taxes and forced labor bans, to export controls and investment screening mechanisms -- are proliferating. Bilateral arrangements are softening, as free trade agreements and investment protection treaties subject to binding third party dispute settlement fall out of fashion, and states turn to cooperative initiatives like the Indo- Pacific Economic Framework or the EU-US Trade and Technology Council. Meanwhile, multilateralism is being reinvented, with WTO negotiations focusing as much on sustainability as on trade and other international efforts, including taxation, environmental protection, and traditional knowledge -- all of which have expanded the contours of international economic law.

This conference will focus on the shifting modes of international governance in international economic law, and will ask: are we are seeing a change from traditional, often enforceable rules, to new, often less formal tools in international economic law?

For more information about attending, please contact the Organizing Team at ieligbiennial2025@gmail.com [2].