Sovereign Financing and International Law

The UNCTAD Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing

Edited by Carlos Esposito, Yuefen Li, and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

Analyses the UNCTAD principles for responsible sovereign lending and borrowing practices, developed in response to the causes and widespread effects of the global financial and economic crisis
Examines what the role of international law could and should be in the context of sovereign financing
Provides in-depth analysis of the legal and economic background of the UNCTAD principles and their financial and institutional implications
Assesses the need for serious participation by the UN system in the search for effective solutions to global financial crises

Sovereign Financing and International Law

The UNCTAD Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing

Edited by Carlos Esposito, Yuefen Li, and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

Description

The regulation of sovereign financing is a highly topical and significant issue, in the light of continuing global financial turmoil. This book assesses the role of international law in sovereign financing, addressing this issue from both legal and economic standpoints. It takes as a starting point the recent report 'Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing' by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This report was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in its December 2011 Resolution on Debt, which emphasized the need for creditors and debtors to share responsibility for preventing unsustainable debt situations and encouraged all stakeholders to pursue the ongoing discussions within the framework of the UNCTAD Initiative.

Investigating the legal and economic basis for the principles which were articulated in the report, the book develops a detailed and nuanced analysis of the controversial and complex issues they raise, including those concerning finance and credit rating agencies, contingent liabilities, debt management, corruption, fiduciary relations and duties, Collective Action Clauses, and the role of the EU and UN. Ultimately, it argues that the principles elaborated in the report correspond with general principles of international law, which provide a strong, pre-existing foundation upon which to build responsible principles for sovereign financing.

Sovereign Financing and International Law

The UNCTAD Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing

Edited by Carlos Esposito, Yuefen Li, and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

Part 1 - Setting the Global Scene
1. Introduction, Carlos Esposito, Yuefen Li, and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky
2. Why the Need for Promoting Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing?, Yuefen Li
3. Sovereign Debt Restructurings as Exercises of Public Authority: Towards a Decentralized Sovereign Insolvency Law, Armin von Bogdandy & Matthias Goldmann
Part 2 - Legal Status of the Principles
4. Legal Status of UNCTAD's Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing, Carlos Esposito and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky
5. Out of Thin Air? Tracing the Origins of the UNCTAD Principles in State Practice, Michael Waibel
Part 3 - Comparative Studies: General Principles
6. Legal Stipulations of Sovereign Lending and Borrowing in Domestic Jurisdictions, Matthias Goldmann
7. The Legal Contours of Sovereign Debt Restructuring under the UNCTAD Draft Principles, Anastasios Gourgourini, Antonis Bredimas, and Georges Pavlidis
Part 4 - Debt Management
8. Improving Debt Management on the Basis of UNCTAD's Principles, Kunibert Raffer
9. UNCTAD's Principles and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Links and joint strategies, Juan Bautista Justo
10. Fiduciary Relations: Legal Framework and Implications for Responsible Sovereign Debt Management, Jose Oyola and Marie Sudreau
11. Current EU Mechanisms to Tackle Sovereign Insolvency, TBC
Part 5 - China as a Case Study
12. China's Governmental Preferential Loans and the Performance of its Lending Responsibility - Take China Export-Import Bank as an Example, Meibo Huang
13. Debt Crisis Prevention for China as the Biggest Sovereign Creditor and the Principles, Xiuli Han
Part 6 - Two Key Issues
14. Restructuring a Sovereign's Contingent Liabilities, Lee Buccheit
15. Governance of Credit Rating Agencies: An Analysis of Sustainability, Manuel Monjas Barroso, Carmen Mendoza Resco, and Fernando Gallardo Olmedo
Part 7 - Outlook and Implementation
16. Producing Change in Sovereign Lending Practices, Mark C. Weidemaier
17. Implementation of the Principles on Responsible Sovereign Financing, Anna Gelpern
Part 8 - Conclusions
18. Concluding Remarks in the Light of International Law, Robert Howse

Sovereign Financing and International Law

The UNCTAD Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing

Edited by Carlos Esposito, Yuefen Li, and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

Author Information

Carlos Esposito holds a Chair in Public International Law at the University Autonoma of Madrid and is current Vice President of the European Society of International Law. His interests extend to all aspects of international law. He has published widely, including books on the ICJ advisory jurisdiction, the WTO, the role of courts in transitional justice, and jurisdictional immunities of States and human rights.

Yuefen Li has been working in UNCTAD since 1990 and is currently its Head of Debt and Development Finance Branch. She is also a guest professor at Tsinghua University, and two other universities in China. Previously she has taught economics and economics related courses at the University of International Business & Economics in China. She has academic degrees from universities in China, the United Kingdom and the United States. She has published books, papers, and articles in professional journals and newspapers, and contributed extensively to UNCTAD publications and documents.

Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky is currently a Sovereign Debt Expert in UNCTAD working for the initiative on "Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing." He worked for UN ECLAC and the Argentinean government on legal issues related to sovereign debt and foreign investments. He has a bachelor in law, an LL.M. in corporate law, and a Ph.D. in Law. He was Hauser fellow at New York University and postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg. His scholarship has appeared in international refereed journals.

Contributors:

Manuel Monjas Barroso, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Armin von Bogdandy, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
Antonis Bredimas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Lee Buccheit, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Anna Gelpern, American University, Washington College of Law
Matthias Goldmann, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
Anastasios Gourgourini, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Mitu Gulati, Duke University
Xiuli Han, Xiamen University
Robert Howse, New York University
Meibo Huang, Xiamen University
Juan Bautista Justo, Universidad Nacional del Comahue
Fernando Gallardo Olmedo, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
José Oyola, INTOSAI-International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions
Ugo Panizza, Chief of the Debt And Finance Analysis Unit, UNCTAD; Professor of Economics, Graduate Institute, Geneva
Georges Pavlidis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Kunibert Raffer, University of Vienna
Carmen Mendoza Resco, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Marie Sudreau, Sovereign Debt Associate, UNCTAD
Ignacio Tirado, Legal Counsel, World Bank; Senior Lecturer of Corporate and Insolvency Law at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Michael Waibel, University of Cambridge
Mark C. Weidemaier, University of North Carolina

Sovereign Financing and International Law

The UNCTAD Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing

Edited by Carlos Esposito, Yuefen Li, and Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

Reviews and Awards

"This volume is a valuable tool for the academic and policy-making community in their further research towards the issue of sovereign financing and sovereign debt restructuring, where scholars, jurists and legal practitioners can all find what they need. In short, the editors have provided many insights into relevant complex aspects of sovereign financing, international law and their interconnectedness, leaving the readers enriched and inspired." -Renzhen Li and Yi Zhou, Chinese Journal of International Law