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Legal Foundations of Economic Governance

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Course Type Course Code No. Of Credits
Discipline Elective NSLG1LP125 4

Semester and Year Offered : Winter Semester

Course Coordinator and Team : Arjun

Email of the coarse coordinator : arjun[at]aud[dot]ac[dot]in

Pre-requisites: None

Does the course connect to, build on or overlap with any other courses offered in AUD?

This complements the BA in Law and Politics program by integrating aspects of inequality into the study of legal and political systems. It builds on foundational concepts introduced in courses on political theory and constitutional law, while offering new perspectives through its focus on the impact of neoliberalism, labour laws, and technological advancements on societal inequalities.

  • Specific requirements on the part of students who can be admitted to this course: Prior Knowledge not required
  • No. of students to be admitted (with justification if lower than usual cohort size is proposed): As Per AUD rules
  • Course scheduling: (summer/winter course; semester-long course; half-semester course; workshop mode; seminar mode; any other – please specify) Semester Long Course
  • Proposed date of launch:

How does the course link with the vision of AUD and the specific programme(s) where it is being offered?

The course aligns with AUD's vision by fostering interdisciplinary study at the intersection of law, politics, and society. It embodies the ethos of the university and the BA in Law and Politics program by encouraging critical analysis of how legal frameworks and political processes shape and are shaped by technological advancements and economic policies. This course equips students with an understanding of the complexities of inequality, which is central to informed political debate and legal scholarship, core tenets of AUD's mission.

Course Details:

Summary:The course embodies the NEP's focus on interdisciplinarity and critical thinking and course offers a look at the intersection of legal norms, economic mechanisms, and technological progress and their collective impact on societal structures. It critically examines the role of policies in shaping economic and social hierarchies, thereby contributing to the formation of an equitable society.

 ​​​​​Objectives:

 

  • To integrate legal, political and economic, perspectives.
  • To examine the effectiveness of legal and political structures in mitigating inequalities.
  • To critically understand the historical evolution of the discipline.

Learning Outcomes: On the successful completion of the course, the students would be able to

  • Analyse how legal systems can both perpetuate and alleviate inequalities.
  • Explore the relationship between economic policies and social disparities.
  • Students will develop cognitive skills necessary for academic development.

Overall structure

Brief description of modules.

Module 1: Foundations of Law in Market.

In this module, an exploration into the entanglement of neoliberalism with the democratic state and global economic frameworks is embarked upon. The ideological roots and the expansive reach of neoliberal policies across the globe, particularly their embodiment in corporate strategies and state apparatuses, are critically examined. Special attention is given to the Indian context, where the interplay between democracy and economic transformation provides a unique case study on the implications of neoliberalism. The role of law as both a constructor and conduit of neoliberal ideals is deliberated upon, seeking to understand the legal underpinnings that have shaped contemporary neoliberal practices. This is further expanded to consider the creation of a political economy framework that moves beyond traditional paradigms, aiming to address the complexities of the 21st century.

Module 2: Legal Foundations of Work and Economy

This module focuses on the critical examination of labour laws within the burgeoning gig economy, where the digitalisation of labour processes is observed to reshape traditional employment paradigms. Challenges brought forth by the intersection of advanced information technologies and labour legislation are scrutinised against the backdrop of a new working class that emerges in the shadow of globalisation and its associated market inequalities. The particular context of India, with its unique engagement with gig work and informality, is dissected to reveal the unfulfilled promises and potential of this labour structure. Attention is directed towards the legal battles concerning the misclassification of workers, a pivotal issue that has significant ramifications on the rights and protections afforded to gig workers. Through a blend of international and Indian literature, this module analyses how legal instruments both shape and are shaped by labour market dynamics, the forces of industrialisation, and the narratives of economic development, aiming to critically assess the alignment between labour laws and economic policy objectives.

Module 3: Legal Foundations and Digital Economy

This module examines the evolving landscape of digital platform governance, where the intersections of law, technology, and societal values are navigated. The governance of digital platforms and their impact on public values within a connected society are analysed comprehensively. The intricate dynamics between legal structures, truth, and power in the context of digital realities are also explored, offering a critical lens on how the law adapts and responds to the challenges of an information-centric economy. The antitrust implications and the separation of platform-based commerce from traditional market structures are scrutinised to understand the reshaping of market competition. Furthermore, the concept of markets being governed by the proliferation of data is discussed, prompting a re-evaluation of market regulation principles in the era of big data. This module is designed to reveal the transformative implications for legal frameworks in response to the digitisation of social and economic interactions, encapsulating the critical questions that surface as markets and governance are increasingly informed by digital innovation.

Module 4: Law and Global Political Economy

In this module, a critical examination of the historical and contemporary structures of international law and global governance is undertaken, as these structures are scrutinized through the lens of imperialism and sovereignty. The evolution of international institutions is explored, particularly how they may contribute to a global state with imperial characteristics. Issues of sovereignty and the influence of empire on the emergence of global economic governance are dissected to reveal the complexities of modern geopolitical dynamics. Further, the current threats to multilateralism, especially from the perspective of the Global South, are given due consideration, providing a contemporary context to the discourse.

Module 1 Foundations of Law in Market.

Topics to be covered.

  • The Theoretical Foundations of Neoliberalism, Understanding Neoliberalism and its Global Impact, The Role of the Democratic State in a Neoliberal Context,
  • Law's Role in the Neoliberal Agenda, How Law Shapes and Is Shaped by Neoliberal Ideologies, Legal Frameworks Supporting Neoliberal Economic Structures, Critical Legal Theories Addressing Neoliberalism

 

 

Essential Readings:

  1. Bhaduri, A. (2009), On Neoliberalism, the Democratic State and Corporate-led Globalisation, The Face You Were Afraid To See, Penguin, New Delhi.
  2. Harvey, D. (2005), Freedom’s Just Another Word, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford University Press, New York.
  3. Chatterjee, Partha. "Democracy and economic transformation in India 1." In Understanding India's New Political Economy, pp. 17-34. Routledge, 2011.
  4. Jedediah S. Purdy, Amy Kapczynski & David S. Grewal, How Law Made Neoliberalism, Boston Rev., February 22, 2021 (2021).
  5. Britton-Purdy, Jedediah, David Singh Grewal, Amy Kapczynski, and K. Sabeel Rahman. "Building a law and political economy framework: Beyond the twentieth-century synthesis." Yale LJ 129 (2019): 1784.

 

 

Secondary Readings:

  1. Drèze, Jean, and Amartya Sen, Integrating Growth and Development,  An uncertain glory: India and its contradictions. Princeton University Press, 2013.
  2. Ha-Joon ed. (2006), Rethinking Development Economics, Anthem Press, London
  3. Blalock, Corinne. "Neoliberalism and the crisis of legal theory." Law & Contemp. Probs. 77 (2014): 71.

 

Module 2: Legal Foundations of Work and Economy

Topics to be covered.

  • Introduction to the gig economy and labour law, defining the gig economy: scope, nature, and growth, overview of labour law as it deals with gig workers,

 

  • The impact of digitalization on labour processes, advanced information technologies and their influence on work,

 

  • Labour in the gig economy, characteristics of labour in the gig economy, globalization and labour market inequalities.

 

Essential Reading

  1. Carby-Hall, Jo, and Lourdes Mella Méndez, eds. Labour law and the gig economy: challenges posed by the digitalisation of labour processes. Routledge, 2020.
  2. Rani, Uma, and Nora Gobel. "Labour in the gig economy." The Routledge Handbook of the Gig Economy (2022): 2.
  3. Brishen Rogers, Data and Democracy at Work: Advanced Information Technologies, Labor Law, and the New Working Class.
  4. Adrian Wood, Globalisation and the Rise in Labour Market Inequalities, The Economic Journal, Volume 108, Issue 450, 1 September 1998, Pages 1463–1482.
  5. Duvisac, Sara. "The unfulfilled promise of gig work: Unpacking informality and gig work in India." In The Routledge Handbook of the gig economy, pp. 361-373. Routledge, 2022.
  6. Veena Dubal, Winning the Battle, Losing the War?: Assessing the Impact of Misclassification Litigation on Workers in the Gig Economy, Wisconsin Law Review 739 (2017).
  7. Deepika, M. G., and M. Madhusoodhan. "Labour Laws for Gig Workers in the Context of Labour Law Reforms." Economic & Political Weekly 57, no. 30 (2022): 23.

 

Module 3: Legal Foundations and Digital Economy

Topics to be covered.

  • Informational capitalism and the law, theoretical foundations of informational capitalism.
  • The role of intellectual property law in the age of information
  • Rule by data, implications for market functioning,  data privacy, protection, and regulatory challenges, intersections of law and digital technologies.

 

Essential Readings:

  1. Van Dijck, José, Thomas Poell, and Martijn De Waal, Governing a Responsible Platform Society, The platform society: Public values in a connective world. Oxford University Press, 2018.
  2. Cohen, Julie E. Between truth and power. Oxford University Press, 2019
  3. Kapczynski, Amy. "The law of informational capitalism." Yale LJ 129 (2019): 1460.
  4. Khan, Lina M. "The separation of platforms and commerce." Columbia Law Review 119, no. 4 (2019): 973-1098.
  5. Pistor, Katharina. "Rule by data: The end of markets?." Law & Contemp. Probs. 83 (2020): 101.

 

Secondary Readings:

  1. Pasquale, Frank. The black box society: The secret algorithms that control money and information. Harvard University Press, 2015.
  2. Narayan, Sunetra Sen, and Shalini Narayanan, eds. India connected: Mapping the impact of new media. SAGE Publishing India, 2016.
  3. Zuboff, Shoshana. "Surveillance capitalism and the challenge of collective action." In New labor forum, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 10-29. Sage Publications, 2019.

Module 4 Law and Global Political Economy
  • The historical context of imperialism in shaping international law, sovereignty and its evolution in the face of imperial ambitions.
  • The role of international institutions in global state formation, neo-imperialism and the global political economy, sovereignty and global economic governance.

 

Primary Readings:

  1. Anghie, Antony, Introduction, Imperialism, sovereignty and the making of international law. Vol. 37. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  2. Chimni, Bhupinder S. "International institutions today: an imperial global state in the making." European Journal of International Law 15, no. 1 (2004): 1-37.
  3. Martin, Jamie, ‘Introduction’ The Meddlers: Sovereignty, Empire, and the Birth of Global Economic Governance. Harvard University Press, 2022.
  4. Abdessaman Jaldi, The Crisis of Multilateralism Viewed from the Global South, Policy Center for the New South (April 2023) only pp 1-18.

 

Secondary Readings:

  1. Anghie, Antony. "Legal aspects of the new international economic order." Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Development 6, no. 1 (2015): 145-158.
  2. Pahuja, Sundhya. Decolonising international law: development, economic growth and the politics of universality. Vol. 86. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
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