Ph.D. Workshop on Multilevel Governance, Decentralization, and Regionalism (Amsterdam, June 8-9, 2016)

We are pleased to pass along news of a Ph.D. workshop on multilevel governance, decentralization, subnational governance, and regionalism in Europe, Latin America, and beyond, to be held in Amsterdam on June 8 and 9 this year.  Up to twelve fellowships, covering economy-class travel (up to EUR 900), local accommodation, and meals, are available.

The workshop is sponsored by the Chair in Multilevel Governance at VU Amsterdam and the EU Center for Excellence at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and organized by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks.

The deadline for applications is March 15, 2016.  Application requirements and details are available here.

“An Inherently Public-Private Partnership”: Introductory Reflections on Financial Sector Regulation in the US and EU since the Advent of the Crisis

As we’ve noted previously, at this year’s AALS Annual Meeting the Section on European Law will join with the Section on Financial Institutions & Consumer Financial Services in co-sponsoring a joint program entitled “Taking Stock of Post-Crisis Reforms: Local, Global, and Comparative Perspectives on Financial Sector Regulation.”  The program will take place on Friday, January 3 at 10:30 am at the New York Hilton Midtown.  In what I hope will be an enticement for section members to attend, below are some introductory remarks with which I plan to open the discussion. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

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Together with the chair of the Section on Financial Institutions & Consumer Financial Services, Saule Omarova (UNC School of Law), let me welcome you to this morning’s panel, “Taking Stock of Post-Crisis Reforms: Local, Global, and Comparative Perspectives on Financial Sector Regulation.”  I am Peter Lindseth (UConn School of Law), chair of the Section on European Law.  It is our pleasure to co-sponsor this morning’s joint program with the Financial Institutions Section.

The aim of this panel, as the title suggests, is to “take stock” of reforms in financial-sector regulation since the advent of the crisis. Our perspective will be resolutely comparative and, we hope, “transatlantic” and indeed “global.”  As the call-for-papers put it, “[t]he financial crisis of 2008 was truly a global crisis, and the world continues to face a wide range of post-crisis economic and political challenges.”  Not least of these is the continuing quest for the right institutional mechanisms as well as the right regulatory and enforcement strategies to promote political and legal accountability in the financial system, whose sound operation is of obvious high public importance.

For many of us in the European Law Section, the study of risk regulation in the financial sector takes us distinctly outside our comfort zone. But the question of financial-sector regulation, I would submit, touches on issues that should be deeply familiar to anyone who has closely followed the process of European integration – indeed, the evolution of modern governance more generally – over the last several decades. 

As our two discussants today (Anna Gelpern and Bob Hockett) put it to me recently, regulation of the financial sector is “an inherently public-private partnership.” If we were to cast this in terms more familiar to Europeanists, we would say that financial-sector regulation is an example of “network” and “multilevel” governance in which significant amounts of regulatory authority, for better or worse, has seeped beyond the confines of individual nation-states.  In these circumstances, the question of accountability – legal, political, even moral – becomes acute.  The regulator’s role, whether in terms of macro-supervision of systemic risks or micro-prudential supervision of individual firms, becomes daunting.  Enforcement of regulatory norms is an ongoing challenge.  Coordination among regulators at various levels of governance becomes crucial.

CFP (due Sept 3): Comparative Urban Governance; Joint Program of the Section on State and Local Government Law & the Section on Comparative Law, AALS Annual Meeting, New York, January 3, 2014

In addition to the call noted below for comparative law works-in-progress, network member Fernanda Nicola (AU-WCL), who is chairing the AALS Section of Comparative Law this year, has passed on this call for papers on "Comparative Urban Governance".   This will be joint program of the Section on State and Local Government at the AALS Annual Meeting in New York in January.  We thought it might be of interest to readers who are faculty members at AALS member schools.

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The Section on State and Local Government Law and the Section on Comparative Law are pleased to announce a Call for Papers for their Joint Program on Saturday January 4 from 2:00 to 3:45 PM at the AALS 2014 Annual Meeting in New York, New York. 

            The topic of the program and call for papers is: “Comparative Urban Governance.”  International law and global governance regimes are increasingly shaping the legal framework within which U.S. cities, states and metropolitan regions are operating. International institutions such as the World Bank are likewise influencing the governance approach of cities in developed countries in an effort to attract foreign investment and to make those cities more equitable, efficient, and sustainable. At the same time, scholars and local policymakers in every part of the world are looking abroad for new ideas, best practices and models to approach urban governance in light of changing fiscal realities and the variety of challenges that accompany increasing rates of urbanization across the world.  Comparative studies of urban governance regimes and policy innovations are important tools in shaping local and regional responses to urban growth, development and sustainability.

            The Joint Program will include two panels. The first panel will concern itself with the different legal regimes from which cities derive their power and explore whether international law and institutions add a new layer of governance. How does and should international and comparative law address cities, regions or sub-national governments as new emerging actors in this field? What are the methods and the problems that lawyers should use in their urban governance comparison across jurisdictions?

            The second panel will focus on how scholars and policymakers engage in cross-national comparisons to assess different urban governance and planning models. What is the relevance of comparative law in determining what type of economic development agenda is more suitable to a specific geographic environment? How can interdisciplinary tools be utilized to establish some entry points for cross national comparisons? How can learning from other countries’ experiences enrich our understanding of what cities can or should not do? 

TODAY: The Law and Politics of Multi-Level Governance -- A Jean Monnet Research Workshop at Rutgers University, June 14-15, 2013

Reminder that today and tomorrow (June 14-15) the Jean Monnet Workshop on "The Law and Politics of Multi-LevelGovernance" will take place at the Center for European Studies, Rutgers University, organized by network member Dan Kelemen. The program includes a keynote by network member Karen Alter (Northwestern), papers by network members Bill Davies (AU) and Hellen Hartnell (Golden Gate/Berkeley), as well as contributions by several other network members as discussants: Gráinne de Búrca (NYU), Mark Pollack (Temple), Peter Lindseth (UConn), Francesca Bignami (GW), and Catherine McCauliff (Seton Hall).

For those interested in attending, the first part of the program - the Welcome, Introduction and Panel I - will take place on Friday, June 14, at the Center for European Studies, 102 Nichol Avenue, New Brunswick. The remainder of the program will take place on Saturday, June 15, at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, located at 191 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick.

The Law and Politics of Multi-Level Governance -- A Jean Monnet Research Workshop at Rutgers University, June 14-15, 2013

We had previously posted the call for papers for the Jean Monnet Workshop on "The Law and Politics of Multi-LevelGovernance," on June 14-15 at the Center for European Studies, Rutgers University, organized by network member Dan Kelemen. We're please to let readers know that the program has been announced.  It includes a keynote by network member Karen Alter (Northwestern), papers by network members Bill Davies (AU) and Hellen Hartnell (Golden Gate/Berkeley), as well as contributions by several other network members as discussants: Gráinne de Búrca (NYU), Mark Pollack (Temple), Peter Lindseth (UConn), Francesca Bignami (GW), and Catherine McCauliff (Seton Hall).

For those interested in attending, the first part of the program - the Welcome, Introduction and Panel I - will take place on Friday, June 14, at the Center for European Studies, 102 Nichol Avenue, New Brunswick. The remainder of the program will take place on Saturday, June 15, at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, located at 191 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick.

Call for Papers: The Law and Politics of Multi-Level Governance -- A Jean Monnet Research Workshop at Rutgers University, June 14-15, 2013

The Jean Monnet Chair at Rutgers University, held by network member Dan Kelemen, is pleased to invite paper proposals for a Research Workshop on the theme of “The Law and Politics of Multi-Level Governance”. When the European Communities were established, the European Court of Justice was composed of a handful of judges and staff members, there was very little European law to interpret, and few national courts actively participated in the community legal system. In the decades since, the scope of European law has expanded dramatically, the Court of Justice itself has grown into a much larger institution and the network of national courts that cooperate (and sometimes conflict) with the European Court in the interpretation and application of EU law has burgeoned. Today thousands of judges across twenty-seven member states are trained in European law, participate in EU-related judicial networks and engage with the EU courts in Luxembourg. This workshop will bring together scholars of European legal integration, multi-level governance and comparative federalism to explore the construction of this multi-level legal system and the interactions between the national and EU level courts and the governments that comprise it.

The workshop will take place on June 14-15, 2013, at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.  The workshop is sponsored by the Center for European Studies and the Jean Monnet Chair at Rutgers University. The Jean Monnet program will cover the costs of travel (economy class) and accommodation for participants and will provide a modest honorarium. We ask each workshop participant to prepare a draft paper for the conference, which participants will be asked to revise into an article following the conference as part of a journal special issue.

Scholars interested in participating should submit a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and an abstract of their proposed paper to Prof R. Daniel Kelemen at european@rci.rutgers.edu by Feb 28, 2013. There are a limited number of slots available. Selections will be announced in early March.