Global issues in international law and governance

This unit considers global issues in international law and governance. The content of the unit will vary each offering to reflect contemporary issues, current concerns, latest research, and teacher expertise. Global Issues units in the faculty of law are run as part of its Prato program.

For 2026: This unit will consider global issues in international law and governance through the lens of international sport. Sports’ global governing bodies (e.g., International Olympic Committee, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Word Athletics) are uniquely hybrid creatures. They are at once powerful commercial concerns, agents of social change and regulators of their domains - part transnational corporation; part international non-government organisation; and part transnational private regulator. This unit will examine how they have leveraged significant economic, social and cultural capital in order to secure from nation states both a high degree of autonomy and significant financial, policy and legislative support. The result is a relationship in which the private actor (sport governing body) often is the rule-maker, and the nation state the rule-taker. This unit will explore the dynamics and implications of this relationship – and what it teaches us about the challenges of dealing with transnational issues more generally - employing a number of topical case studies, including athlete human rights; gender, sex and identity; doping and drugs; gambling and corruption; authoritarian and private capital; and climate change.