07 Mar Can Administrative Law Go Global? (And Should Lawyers Care?)
It is trendy to say that every area of law is “global” in a globalizing world. It is also probably correct. Administrative law is a good example of this. Administrative agencies need to cooperate transnationally as well as domestically, but scholars have only begun to study those transnational relationships. As lawprof David Zaring of Washington & Lee notes over at Concurring Opinions, the question for scholars is “how to blend the putatively orderly and hierarchical weltanschauung of administrative law with the famously anarchic and chaotic, if currently rather hegemonic, world of international relations.”
One question for David and other “networks” scholars. Although these kinds of transnational relationships are no doubt important, I’ve always wondered how to bring legal analysis to bear on these matters. By definition, these relationships are non-formal non-legal relationships, which makes me wonder if lawyers have much useful to say?
For more on this trend in international scholarship and perhaps why my question is wrongheaded, check out the rest of David’s useful post.
One sometimes wonders if this is global adlaw stuff is actually applied IR, I agree. But I think lawyers can contribute:
– it’s a legal regime that is important, and I’ve always thought law schools should be able to offer sophisticated descriptive analyses of these – even though it is descriptive.
– but the classic role for lawyers would be to propose a set of legal reforms that would cabin the discretion of network-style agents – and whether that would be a good idea. That’s what Alfred Aman and Benedict Kingsbury are doing, to different degrees, in the area … I think it’s legit legal prescription!