Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

A basic knowledge of the subjects and sources of public international law is highly recommended.

The course aims at enabling students to understand the structure and purposes of the main international organizations and of the other actors in the field of international economic law. In particular, it aims at providing the analytical tools for a basic understanding of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, their institutional and legal framework and their interconnections. The course will also focus on sovereign debt issues.

Students will be provided both with a solid background as well as a set of conceptual and critical tools for reflecting more deeply on the role of international financial institutions in the world economic order and the logics of sovereign debt.

Attendance of this course is NOT a prerequisite to other courses taught in the second year.

Students should demonstrate a good knowledge, on the one hand, of the role of States, International financial institutions and private actors in international economic law and, on the other hand, of their impact on economic development and on the protection of fundamental rights.

Expected learning outcomes (according to Dublin descriptors)

Knowledge and understanding: knowledge of the main topics analyzed during the course

Applying knowledge and understanding: ability to apply the knowledge acquired to understand relevant reading materials and news, to participate in a discussion or a conference, to understand experts

Making judgements: ability to recognize relevant research materials, to identify a research question, to structure the content of an essay, to interpret sources and to provide an answer to the research question 

Communication: ability to communicate the acquired knowledge, demonstrating an adequate capacity of synthesis and abstraction and using a clear and rigorous language (grammar included)

Lifelong learning skills: acquisition of an effective study method, ability to identify and interpret different problems and texts.

The course will offer a 'zero module' through the Moodle platform on the subjects and sources of international law for students who do not have a legal background.

The course will be structured in three modules.

The first module will analyse the governance structure and the mandate of the International Monetary Fund, discussing some of its most controversial aspects such as the Fund's conditionality policy.

The second module will analyse the governance structure and the mandate of the World Bank, discussing its project cycle, the standards applied in the realization of funded projects and the role of the Inspection Panel.

The third module will be devoted to sovereign debt issues and the existing regimes for sovereign debt restructuringand with a focus on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the (un)sustainability of the sovereign debt of many low- and middle-income countries.

- The International Monetary Fund: governance structure, functions (financial assistance in particular) and critical aspects

- The World Bank: governance structure, functions (project financing in particular) and critical aspects

- Sovereign Debt: its impact on development, mechanisms for sovereign debt restructuring, critical aspects

The course will be taught through the traditional learning model based on frontal lectures as well as through interactive lectures and group work actvities. Reference documents will be distributed to stimulate debate. Experts in specific fields may be invited as speakers.

Teaching and reading materials will be made available through the Moodle platform. The platform will also be used to organise group activities.

It is therefore essential and compulsory that all the students enrol on the Moodle page of the course to have full access to studying materials and for communication purposes.

The first lecture will take place on the 23th of September 2023 at 18:00 (Rome time) in class.

Lectures will be held on Monday Tuesday Wednesday h. 18-20 at the Campus Luigi Einaudi.

For students regularly attending class in a.y. 2024-2025

Evaluation: 

• 1) Group work participation (a breakout group exercise that will be organized during the course) = 25%
• 2) A test – with multiple choice and true/false questions – on what was discussed in class and on the studying materials uploaded on Moodle. This test can be taken only in two dates: at the exam session of mid-December 2024 or at the first exam session of January 2025 (the exact dates will be communicated in class and through Moodle) = 75%

After the first exam session of January 2025 all the students will be considered non-attending (see below) and therefore the group work will not anymore be considered for the final grade.

Grade formula:

Group exercise (weighted 25%) = X

Test (weighted 75%) = Y

Formula: (X + Y + Y + Y) : 4 = FINAL GRADE

Example:

Group exercise 27/30

Test 30/30

(27 + 30+ 30 + 30) : 4 = 29,25 that becomes 29

A group exercise is planned (as explained above).

Guest lecturers may be invited on specific topics.

Reading materials and resources (selection of book chapters, papers, documents, videos, etc) will be made available on the Moodle platform.

Any update and communication will be notified to students through the Moodle platform.

It is, therefore, necessary that students enrol on the Moodle platform, to have access to materials (also for the group work) and official communications.

Attendace is not compulsory, but strongly recommended, as students regularly attending will be evaluated on the basis of a group exercise, their participation in class and a test/research paper.

Students with certfied learning disabilities can contact the professor by email asking for an oral exam.