Part II International Economic Law as an Order of Rules and Principles, VI Sovereignty and International Economic Relations

Subject(s):

Human rights remedies — International investment law — International monetary law — International trade — National treatment

This chapter assesses State sovereignty in the context of the international economic order. A modern view of sovereignty sees the restraints on sovereign choices through treaties and other consensual arrangements as a rational response to the limited potential and options of single States. From this perspective, submission to international regulatory regimes enhances a country’s status in an interdependent world: sovereignty becomes the status as a recognized member in the international community. The international economic order corroborates this new understanding of sovereignty as status. However, in economic as well as in legal terms globalization with the integration of markets will again and again conflict with national political and societal choices of sovereign States. It is thus a lasting challenge for international economic law to strike an adequate balance between national preferences and the overarching interest in a stable and reliable framework of international economic relations.