5. Word study: Key Terms

1. enforcement of judgments	впровадження рішення суду
2. reciprocity	взаємодія
3. to assert	захищати, відстоювати
4. to do away (with)	покінчити, знищити
5. at this juncture	за таких обставин
6. NIEO (new international economic order)	новий міжнародний економічний порядок
7. equitable benefit	вигода, рівноправна користь
8. in good faith	сумлінно виконувати
9. to seek hegemony	прагнути гегемонії
10. to expropriate	відчужувати, відбирати
11. “hard law” – the law which creates obligations being binding and enforceable in nature	закон обов’язковий до виконання
12. “soft law” – the law which creates “obligations” being non-binding and unenforceable in nature	закон необов’язковий до виконання
13. to evolve	розвивати(ся)

Comprehension check

6. Work in pairs. Answer the following questions to the text:

a. What is the definition of international economic law?

b. What does the term “international economic law” include?

c. What traditional principles of international law is international economic law based on?

d. Can you explain the difference between the economic sovereignty of states and permanent sovereignty over natural resources?

e. What are the main principles of international economic law?

f. What are the economic rights of states according to the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States of 1974?

7. Read the text and use the information of the text to answer the questions on the international economic law that follow.

It was the year of 1944. For the first time in modern history, an international agreement was reached to govern monetary policy among nations. It was, significantly, a chance to create a stabilizing international currency and ensure monetary stability once and for all. In total, 730 delegates from 44 nations met for three weeks in July that year at a hotel resort in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

It was a turning point in monetary history.

The result of this international meeting, the Bretton Woods Agreement, had the original purpose of rebuilding after World War II through a series of currency stabilization programs and infrastructure loans to war-ravaged nations. By 1946, the system was in full operation through the newly established International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, the World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

What makes the Bretton Woods Agreement so interesting to us today is the fact that the whole plan for international monetary policy was based on nations agreeing to adhere to a global gold standard. Each country signing the agreement promised to maintain its currency at values within a narrow margin to the value of gold. The IMF was established to facilitate payment imbalances on a temporary basis.

Notes:

1. war-ravaged nations – спустошені війною країни

2. margin – резерв

3. to facilitate – полегшувати, сприяти.

Test yourself. Choose the correct answer.

1. What is the subject of International Economic Law in the main?

(a) Economic relations between states.

(b) Economic relations between traders of different States.

(c) Economic relations between traders of different States and economic relations between different States.

(d) Economic relations between different regional trade blocks.

2. International Economic regulation can be concerned with two States only. It can also be concerned with many States. What are the terms to describe these two types of regulation?

(a) Bilateral and multilateral economic regulation.

(b) Regional and global trade block.

(c) Single and multiple economic regulation.

(d) Unipolar and multipolar trade affairs.

3. International Economic Law is increasingly seen to be having a dual character. This character relates to:

(a) Traders and trade blocks.

(b) Traders and States.

(c) Traders and politicians.

(d) Traders and banks.

4. Depending on the level of force behind an International Economic Law instrument, an instrument as such can be:

(a) Hard or soft law.

(b) Multilateral and bilateral agreement.

(c) Politicised or non-politicised agreement.

(d) Regional or global law.

5. What was the name of the Agreement that laid the foundations for the creation of the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank Group?

(a) The Bretton Woods Agreement (1944).

(b) The Postdam Agreement (1945).

(c) The Dayton Agreement (1995).

(d) The Luxembourg Agreement (2003).

6. What was the desire behind the Bretton Woods Agreement?

(a) A desire to put an end to the Second World War.

(b) A desire to eradicate the causes that led to the Second World War.

(c) A desire for creating a system of fluctuating currencies.

(d) A desire for the abolition of different currencies.

7. What was the ultimate of the Bretton Woods Agreement?

(a) The creation of a global alliance of States.

(b) The creation of an economic trade block.

(c) The creation of a new world economic order.

(d) The creation of a military alliance.

8. International Economic Law is primarily concerned with certain institutions of global remit. They are:

(a) The ASEAN, the EU and NAFTA.

(b) The WTO, the IMF and the World Bank Group.

(c) The UN and International Court of Justice.

(d) The NATO and the International Criminal Court.

9. International economic regulation operates on two levels. Which are they?

(a) Political and economic.

(b) Unipolar and multipolar.

(c) Regional and global.

(d) Financial and political.

10. Despite the global relevance of International Economic Law, such law is also concerned with the regulatory frameworks of certain regional trading blocks. Which are these blocks?

(a) The NATO and the G8.

(b) The WTO, the IMF and the World Bank Group.

(c) The World Intellectual Property Organization and the European Patent Office.

(d) The European Union, the European Free Trade Area, the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mercosur, the Association of Southeast Nations and the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation.