Globalization and Its Discontents Colloquium
Student Perspectives
Printer Friendly VersionLiesle Theron (LL.M. ’03)
The Globalization and Its Discontents Colloquium was one of the more stimulating classes I took at NYU School of Law. It offered me a further valuable perspective on the work I had been doing on environmental health and safety regulation and trade/competition. It provided a unique opportunity to discuss with academics their leading work on the implications of globalization. Whether their work was at a general level or on a specific subject, discussions were stimulating and relevant as Professors Kingsbury and Stewart focused the seminar on drawing parallels with and implications for students’ work. The student work also covered a broad range of subjects and discussions allowed for cross-referencing of each other’s work and that of the visiting academics.
Robert Yezerski (LL.B. ’03, University of Sydney)
The great achievement of the Globalization and Its Discontents Colloquium is that it explores the common challenges that the phenomenon of globalization poses for regulatory fields as diverse as genetically modified foods, competition law, and international criminal law. The course focuses heavily on institutional design and explores the ways in which regulation may be achieved beyond the ordinary channels of international law and politics. Perhaps the best aspect of the colloquium is that it brings together a range of experts (from both inside and outside the Law School), exposing students to the leading scholarship in a diverse range of fields.
Students were required to prepare reaction papers to the various speakers, and most speakers spent considerable time discussing these responses during their presentations. This meant that students were able to engage the guest speakers directly, voicing their own perspectives, opinions, and objections. The overall experience of the colloquium was therefore one of collaboration and debate, rather than mere exposition. My colloquium paper proposed development of an international system of criminal liability for oil-tanker owners who violate environmental regulatory requirements.
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