The Legal Path to Sustainable Development: Module 9 

Using the Law to Finance Development (Part 1)

  Live session: 25th September 2021, 13.00 - 16.15 (BST)

Drag to resize
Write your awesome label here.
  • Pre-reading study time
    2 hours
  • Live session 
    3.5 hours
  • Community of Practice
Drag to resize

Session 1: Global Trade and Development

The World Trade Organisation has been instrumental in trade liberalisation and globalisation, but its critics highlight the disproportionate benefits that have flowed to rich, developed countries and the marginalisation of the least developed.
In this session we will focus on two aspects of the trade system and how it impacts on sustainable development. First, we will look at why the WTO has been so unequal in its effects on rich and poor states and how this inequality has impacted on the ability of the WTO to create new international regulations. Second, we will look at the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) – often called the “jewel in the crown” of the trade system. In particular we explore the extent to which the DSM has “levelled the playing field” for less powerful states, while highlighting some of the problems the WTO’s legal system has presented. Overall, this will provide a solid understanding of the nature of the multilateral trade system, the inequalities it has created and the legalisation of trade that the founding of the WTO engendered. 
MEET THE INSTRUCTOR

Prof. James Scott
Kings College London

James Scott is Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. He works on global governance, with a primary focus on trade, and mainly with regard to the relationship between trade governance and development. James has an MA in Development Studies and a PhD in International Political Economy from the University of Manchester. He has published widely across the fields of trade, global governance, International Political Economy and development. He co-edited the books Trade, Poverty, Development: Getting beyond the WTO’s Doha Deadlock (2013), and Expert Knowledge in Global Trade (2015), both published by Routledge
Write your awesome label here.

Session 2: Tax Revenue – A Challenge for Development

Tax revenue is the best way to reduce dependence on foreign aid, with tax being the most sustainable source of finance for economic and social development.

This session will explore why tax is fundamental for development and will outline what is being done to implement effective systems for tax collection and to close the mechanisms which enable tax avoidance and evasion. 
MEET THE INSTRUCTOR

John Christensen
Tax Justice Network

John Christensen is an economist and former economic adviser to the UK and Jersey governments. He has played a lead role in campaigning for tighter regulation and control of tax havens and offshore finance centres.

John is the founder of the Tax Justice Network, an independent international network dedicated to high-level research, analysis and advocacy in the field of international tax and the international aspects of financial regulation. 
Write your awesome label here.
Created with