03: Global contracts, economic crisis and rebuilding trust
Official responses to the financial crisis have seen new and intensified efforts to strengthen international cooperation, including the G20 and related initiatives. However, there has been limited willingness to commit to legally binding measures in the short term, and it currently seems unlikely that moves to strengthen global financial regulation will lead to formal treaty commitments in the medium to long term. At the same time, concerns to avoid protectionist reactions to the crisis do not appear to be reflected in a greater commitment to bringing the Doha Development Round of trade agreement negotiations to a successful conclusion. This contrasts with other areas of intergovernmental collaboration where treaty-based obligations are far more prevalent. Why is it that some policy areas lend themselves more readily than others to contractual mechanisms for underpinning trust on a cross-border basis? Does the lack of appetite for binding commitments call into question the robustness of the response to the crisis? The seminar will provide participants with the opportunity to explore these questions as they review the key developments at international level.
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Dr. Walter GEHR
Chief, Counter-Terrorism Legal Services Section I, Terrorism Prevention Branch, Division for Treaty Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Vienna
| 1989 | Joined the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs as deputy director of the department of general international law; in this capacity he represented his country in the Nuclear Law Committee of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD and in the First Review Meeting of the Contracting States of the Nuclear Safety Convention |
| 1999-2002 | President of the Assembly of States of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO). In December 2001, he was the first person to join the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the United Nations Security Council as an expert. He subsequently became the spokesperson of the CTC s expert team. Together with his colleagues, he assisted the CTC in monitoring the worldwide implementation of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001) which had been adopted shortly after the events of September 11th. |
| He is now Chief of the Legal Services Section I of the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna and carries out technical assistance missions. | |
| In the last six years, he was Chairman of several regional workshops on international cooperation against terrorism and transnational organized crime (e.g. in Khartoum (Sudan), Helsinki (Finland), Praia (Cape Verde) and at the headquarters of the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna. He also chaired UNODC s Regional Workshop on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism which took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and in Minsk, Belarus, with the participation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the 1540 Committee of the UN Security Council. | |
| He also led missions, inter alia, to Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria and Peru and provided inputs to the counter-terrorism efforts of the African Union, the European Union and of the G8. He also participated in visits carried out by the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate in Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. He is also lecturer at the International School of Nuclear Law (ISNL) in Montpellier, France |
Ph.D. Simon EVENETT
Professor of International Trade and Economic Development; Director, Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research, University of St. Gallen
| 1987-1990 | University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. BA (Honours) in Economics awarded in May 1990 |
| 1990-1995 | Department of Economics, Yale University, USA. Ph.D. awarded in December 1995. Dissertation Title: A Re-Evaluation of the Case Against the U.S. Antidumping Law |
| 1995-1997 | Visiting Assistant Professor, Business Economics and Public Policy Group University of Michigan Business School |
| 1997-2002 | Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick |
| 1998-1999 | Economist, The World Development Report 1999/2000, Development Economics, The World Bank, Washington DC |
| 2000-2002 | Economist, Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank, Washington DC |
| 2002-2003 | Director, Economic Research, World Trade Institute, Bern, Switzerland and Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Bern, Switzerland |
| 2003-2005 | University Lecturer in International Business, Said Business School, University of Oxford |
| since 2005 | Professor of International Trade and Economic Development; Director, Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research, University of St. Gallen |
| since 2008 | Programme Director, International Trade and Regional Economics Programme, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, UK |
