International Economic Law and Its Histories

International economic law is best defined as the branch of public international law that governs transnational economic relations, that is, international trade, foreign direct investment, and currency exchange. It is a field that mixes and mingles law and economics. Economic theory has predominated in international economic law literature. Yet, international economic law is not just about money, trade, and capital flows.

It is also about individual lives, collective destinies, and interactions among different civilizations. The historical evolution of global economic governance remains understudied. Yet, investigating the history of international economic law is timely and important because we can learn from past experiences and avoid mistakes. By mapping histories of how countries have governed economic globalization, that is, the expansion of the international exchange of goods, services, and capital, one can detect promising paths and devise ways to prevent or successfully overcome the pitfalls of economic globalization.

Such investigation crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines to explore an area of inquiry at the crossroads between law, economics, and history. While there is no single recipe to determine ways to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impacts of international trade and capital flows, the article calls for an in-depth investigation of how different civilizations have governed economic globalization waves and aims to stimulate further historical research in international economic law. This research can also contribute to the development of international economic law.