Globalisation & Legal Theory by William Twining

Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 2001

Though introduced more than sixty years ago, the lamplighter's tragedy neatly enca~sulates one ofthe pivotal aspects of the current age of globalization. From year to year the world has been witnessing ever-growing changes, while the existing legal orders-especially those concerning the planet as a whole, i.e., international law-are quickly becoming antiquated. In particular, the view that nation-states alone should monopolize international affairs is an increasingly inadequate proposition. In response; calls for paradigm shifts 4 are emerging 5-and not only in internatiomll law. Labor law, 6 taxation, 7 antitrust, 8 corporations, 9 and securities regulation 10 are all subject to suggestions of revision in light of the 2. The current age of globalization began in 1989. The fall of the Berlin Wall followed by the other "Revolutions of 1989" (see Bruce Ackennan, The Rise of World Constitutionalism, 83 VA. L. REY. 771, 784 (1997) marked the dawn ofa new era-post Cold War-in world politics, economy, and law. 3.

2020

The connections between Law or, more broadly, normativity, and globalization have been the object of intense scholarly scrutiny for the past three decades. This debate has produced expressions such as “Global Law”, re-signified “Transnational Law” and explored notions such as “Internationalization of Law”. Such literature has not translated, however, into conceptual consensus, nor has it been able to fully explore the complex interplay between two of the central concepts in the field, namely, “Law of globalization” and “Law in globalization”. This paper discusses and problematizes the connections between these two concepts. It aims at highlighting the complexities involving the debate on normativity and globalization, and at pointing out to risks that some of the dynamics involved in these dimensions pose to the rule of Law. The argument starts with a critical review of the literature on the field, and then presents the descriptive-analytical perspective it adopts to examine this ph...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015

has changed the face of the earth; changes in the paradigms of modernity have outpaced intellectuals and jurists' capacity for reflection. The law cannot remain immune to these new facts."

2001

Though introduced more than sixty years ago, the lamplighter's tragedy neatly enca~sulates one ofthe pivotal aspects of the current age of globalization. From year to year the world has been witnessing ever-growing changes, while the existing legal orders-especially those concerning the planet as a whole, i.e., international law-are quickly becoming antiquated. In particular, the view that nation-states alone should monopolize international affairs is an increasingly inadequate proposition. In response; calls for paradigm shifts 4 are emerging 5-and not only in internatiomll law. Labor law, 6 taxation, 7 antitrust, 8 corporations, 9 and securities regulation 10 are all subject to suggestions of revision in light of the 2. The current age of globalization began in 1989. The fall of the Berlin Wall followed by the other "Revolutions of 1989" (see Bruce Ackennan, The Rise of World Constitutionalism, 83 VA. L. REY. 771, 784 (1997) marked the dawn ofa new era-post Cold War-in world politics, economy, and law. 3.

This short paper is an attempt to synthesize the debate on "globalization and international law". This is an issue that has been taken increasingly seriously by international lawyers, as globalization threatens to challenge the very meaning, status and nature of the international legal order. The paper argues that globalization has had a significant impact on international law but that, in turn, international law could have a significant impact on globalization. Published in: MAX PLANCK ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, Oxford University Press, 2009.

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law, 2006

If comparative legal studies are to retain their relevance in understanding the impact of global changes on existing local traditions, their modes of interaction and influence, and their strategies for survival, then, the article concludes, their focus certainly needs adjusting. This article attempts to examine the ways in which comparative law as a discipline is affected by the changes wrought by globalization, and in particular the challenges which such changes imply for the methodological agenda of comparative legal studies and for its ideological commitments. More pragmatically, it may also be useful to envisage the impact of increased access to information on foreign laws, and the growth of trans- or international sources of uniform law, on the practical usefulness of comparative law.

This seminar interrogates law's relationship with capitalism and colonialism by studying the political, social, and economic structures produced by international legal institutions, and how social movements have deployed law to resist the changing forms of contemporary global capitalism. The first theme of the course addresses 'structures' of international law. It examines the way in which law produces structural relationships impacting issues pertaining to race, gender, and class. These relationships are most clearly manifested through the various interventions of international institutions in the global south. Therefore, students will reflect on the historical relationship between international legal institutions and colonial, and neo-colonial practices. The second theme of the course addresses resistance against these structures. In particular, it focuses on the 'agency' of diverse social movements, from the Arab revolutions, to the Occupy Movement, to anti-austerity movements in Greece, to the Quebec Student Strike, and Idle No More. More specifically, we will look at how social movements use the law, and the legal system in defence of their struggles. The third theme in the course draws all this together, by presenting different theoretical approaches from the various strands of the critical legal tradition(s) (such as: feminist, and queer legal theory, critical race theory, Third World Approaches to International Law, etc. …). These are intended to provide the analytical toolkit necessary to reflect on, and respond to the materials of the course.

The chapter provides an introduction into law and globalization for sociolegal studies. Instead of treating globalization as an external factor that impacts the law, globalization and law are here viewed as intertwined. I suggest that three types of globalization should be distinguished — globalization as empirical phenomenon, globalization as theory, and globalization as ideology. I go on to discuss one central theme of globalization, namely in what way society, and therefore law, move beyond the state. This is done along the three classical elements of the state — territory, population/citizenship, and government. The role of all of these elements is shifting, suggesting we need to move away from the traditional paradigm of both social and legal studies: methodological nationalism. I do not answer here how this paradigm should be replaced, but I discuss one prominent candidate of a meta-theory: transnational law. Transnational law, I suggest, helps transcend dichotomies of methodo...

Transnational Legal Theory, 2013

Professor William Twining loves puzzles. And he is fine that his energy is spent on puzzles of which he will probably never have all the pieces. The point seems to be the act of puzzling itself, the identification of pieces and the appreciation of their shape in an attempt to understand their place in the bigger picture. In that vein, he observes the subjects of his scholarship not only through books but through his own perception, involvement and experience. His scholarly work and academic teaching have taken him practically everywhere, engaging with the world, and with concepts and conundra, with a particular sense of modesty, § This short text serves as the introduction to Transnational Legal Theory's Symposium on William Twining's