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TIPP lecture: Legitimacy, Sovereignty and Dispute Settlements

The stakes are high in trade agreements when thorny issues arise. Private investors, companies, states and public interest organisations have to agree on how to work out conflicts. Arenas of arbitration and the ‘rules of the game’ are of great importance. Diving deeper into the question of dispute settlement, Lora Verheecke (Corporate Europe Observatory) will refer to a number of real cases to discuss what happens when disagreements and conflicts arise in relation to trade contracts, regulation and claims.

From Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) to regulatory cooperation, the idea that market place disputes can be settled in the post-national market place has a real impact on any notion of business as usual. What do the mechanisms and forums for arbitration do to democratic societies, citizens' roles therein and the legitimacy underlying decisions taken? Studium Generale invites you to take a closer look at these tensions under the spotlight.

At the Corporate Europe Observatory in Brussels, Lora Verheecke does research on international trade. She graduated from the University of Manchester. Lora’s expertise in trade is complimented by her specialization in Environmental Governance, European Studies and Russian. She previously worked for trade unions and environmental NGOs on trade and development issues.