Sovereign Financing and International Law: The UNCTAD Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing
ISBN: 9780191752315
Platform/Publisher: Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Law;

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.


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.

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