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Selected Works

Sungjoon Cho

Articles 1 - 30 of 55

Full-Text Articles in Law

Convergence And Divergence In International Economic Law And Politics, Sungjoon Cho, Jürgen Kurtz Jan 2018

Convergence And Divergence In International Economic Law And Politics, Sungjoon Cho, Jürgen Kurtz

Sungjoon Cho

This article explores the phenomena of convergence and divergence in international economic law. It argues that both international trade and investment law have been forced to overcome a structural (legal-institutional) prioritization of market goals via competing social regulatory concerns. It is at this stress point that we argue that a powerful set of converging and procedurally orientated hermeneutics can be identified in the jurisprudence that, properly employed, could significantly bolster the elasticity and durability of state commitment to international economic law constraints. There remain, however, continuing textual and systemic divergences at play, which opponents will often dismiss for reasons of …

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Communitizing Transnational Regulatory Concerns, Sungjoon Cho, Cecilia M. Suh, Jacob Radecki Jun 2017

Communitizing Transnational Regulatory Concerns, Sungjoon Cho, Cecilia M. Suh, Jacob Radecki

Sungjoon Cho

The conventional, rationalist view explains that a state will only assent to international regulation if such regulation directly serves the state’s interest. In contrast, nascent transnational regulatory intermediaries, such as the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee, seek to ameliorate such parochial state interests through a broader interstate dialogue. This Article addresses the challenging question of whether these intermediaries have any meaningful effect on the resolution of interstate trade disputes. To examine this question, this Article utilizes data from over 400 examples of “specific trade concerns” (STCs) raised by WTO members in the TBT Committee. Our …

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International Cooperation And Organizational Identities: The Evolution Of The Asean Investment Regime, Sungjoon Cho, Jürgen Kurtz Dec 2016

International Cooperation And Organizational Identities: The Evolution Of The Asean Investment Regime, Sungjoon Cho, Jürgen Kurtz

Sungjoon Cho

This article first conceptualizes the ASEAN Investment Regime (AIR) as an Interstate Cooperative Regime (ICR), defined as a stable interstate cooperative nexus on a particular regulative subject, comprising the regulation of foreign investment in this particular case. It then seeks to explain the evolution of AIR in terms of its identity formation. In doing so, this article employs three ideal types of cultural logic - Hobbesian, Lockean and Kantian - across each stage of AIR’s evolution, largely overlapping with the three main IR theories of neorealism, neoliberal institutionalism and constructivism, respectively. Using those models, we find a clear evolutionary pathway …

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The Limits Of Isomorphism: Global Investment Law And The Asean Investment Regime, Sungjoon Cho, Jurgen Kurtz Jul 2016

The Limits Of Isomorphism: Global Investment Law And The Asean Investment Regime, Sungjoon Cho, Jurgen Kurtz

Sungjoon Cho

This article probes the unique ontogenetic path of ASEAN’s regulation of foreign investment by juxtaposing global investment law and the ASEAN context. While the former delivers a powerful heuristic on isomorphism that ASEAN exhibits in its strong reflection of global investment norms, the latter sheds critical light on ideological and analytical blind spots by exploring distinct heterogeneities in ASEAN’s investment regulation. Those heterogeneities are not simply outliers but reflect important historical and cultural values inherent to ASEAN and its members. The insights uncovered in this article invite scholars and policymakers to define a new form of global investment law that …

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Comparison Excluding Commitments: Incommensurability, Adjudication, And The Unnoticed Example Of Trade Disputes, Sungjoon Cho, Richard Warner Dec 2015

Comparison Excluding Commitments: Incommensurability, Adjudication, And The Unnoticed Example Of Trade Disputes, Sungjoon Cho, Richard Warner

Sungjoon Cho

We claim that there are important cases of “incommensurability” in public policymaking, in which all relevant reasons are not always comparable on a common scale as better, worse, or equally good. Courts often fail to confront this. We are by no means the first to contend that incommensurability exists. Yet incommensurability’s proponents have failed to sway the courts mainly because they overlook the fact that there are two types of incommensurability. The first (“incompleteness incommensurability”) consists of the lack of any appropriate metric for making the comparison. We argue that this type of incommensurability is relatively unproblematic in that courts …

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The Social Foundations Of World Trade, Sungjoon Cho Mar 2015

The Social Foundations Of World Trade, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

Streamed live on Mar 17, 2015

Sungjoon Cho, Professor of Law at IIT Chicago-Kent Law, gives a lecture titled after his recently published book "The Social Foundations of World Trade: Norms, Community and Constitution."

This lecture is sponsored by the Center for International and Comparative Law.

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International Economic Cooperation As A Social Phenomenon: A Reply To Posner & Sykes, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2013

International Economic Cooperation As A Social Phenomenon: A Reply To Posner & Sykes, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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An International Organization's Identity Crisis, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2013

An International Organization's Identity Crisis, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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How The World Trade Community Operates: Norms And Discourse, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2013

How The World Trade Community Operates: Norms And Discourse, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Reinventing The Development Wheel Of The World Trading System (Reviewing Sonia E. Rolland, Development At The World Trade Organization (2012)), Sungjoon Cho Dec 2012

Reinventing The Development Wheel Of The World Trading System (Reviewing Sonia E. Rolland, Development At The World Trade Organization (2012)), Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Are World Trading Rules Passé?, Sungjoon Cho, Claire R. Kelly Dec 2012

Are World Trading Rules Passé?, Sungjoon Cho, Claire R. Kelly

Sungjoon Cho

This Article probes previously under-explored failure of the world trading rules to keep abreast with the global marketplace. It argues that the global trading system, despite its well-documented contribution to the spectacular expansion of postwar trade, has never in fact fully moved away from the mercantilist past; its mono-linear conception of production and trading patterns; and its state centric, top-down paradigm of rule making. The inevitable anachronism precipitated by the out of date trading rules structure is seriously ill-suited to the contemporary non-territorial international business transactions defined by global supply chains. Consequently, while the trading rules officially seek to help …

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Injunctive And Reverse Settlements In Competition-Blocking Litigation, Sungjoon Cho, Keith N. Hylton Dec 2012

Injunctive And Reverse Settlements In Competition-Blocking Litigation, Sungjoon Cho, Keith N. Hylton

Sungjoon Cho

We distinguish standard settlements, in which the status quo is preserved, and injunctive settlements, which prohibit the defendant’s activity. The reverse settlement is a special type of injunctive settlement. We examine the divergence between private and social incentives to settle and policies that would minimize socially undesirable injunctive and reverse settlements (e.g., banning reverse settlements). The results are applied to competition-blocking litigation, such as patent infringement and antidumping.

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Reconstructing World Politics: Norms, Discourse, And Community, Sungjoon Cho Feb 2012

Reconstructing World Politics: Norms, Discourse, And Community, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

This Article argues that the conventional (rationalist) approach to world politics characterized by political bargain cannot fully capture the new social reality under the contemporary global ambience where ideational factors such as ideas, values, culture, and norms have become more salient and influential not only in explaining but also in prescribing state behaviors. After bringing rationalism’s paradigmatic limitations into relief, the Article offers a sociological framework that highlights a reflective, intersubjective communication among states and consequent norm-building process. Under this new paradigm, one can understand an international organization as a “community” (Gemeinschaft), not as a mere contractual instrument of its …

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Promises And Perils Of New Global Governance: A Case Of The G20 (With C. Kelly), Sungjoon Cho, Claire R. Kelly Dec 2011

Promises And Perils Of New Global Governance: A Case Of The G20 (With C. Kelly), Sungjoon Cho, Claire R. Kelly

Sungjoon Cho

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a new global governance structure emerged. During and subsequent to the crisis, the G20 arose as a coordinating executive among international governance institutions. It set policy agendas, prioritized initiatives and, working through the Financial Stability Board, drew other governance institutions and networks such as the International Monetary Fund, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organization, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and the International Organization of Securities Commissions to set standards, monitor enforcement and compliance, and aid recovery. Its authority cross-cuts regimes …

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Beyond Rationality: A Sociological Construction Of The World Trade Organization, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2011

Beyond Rationality: A Sociological Construction Of The World Trade Organization, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

This Article critiques the rational-institutional analysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that Gregory Shaffer and Joel Trachtman present, and proposes an alternative “sociological” framework. The Article notes that rationalism, although a powerful heuristic of the WTO’s operation, inevitably overlooks the WTO’s rich social dimensions and thus leaves behind several theoretical blind spots, such as the lack of any satisfying explanation on institutional evolution and development concerns. In an attempt to address these blind spots, the Article offers a sociological-communitarian paradigm that emphasizes cognitive elements, such as ideas, norms, and discourse, to explain the social dynamic within the WTO. Under …

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Book Review: Rüdiger Wolfrum Et Al. Eds., Wto: Trade In Goods (2011), Sungjoon Cho Nov 2011

Book Review: Rüdiger Wolfrum Et Al. Eds., Wto: Trade In Goods (2011), Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Book Review (Reviewing Rüdiger Wolfrum Et Al. Eds., Wto: Trade In Goods, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2010

Book Review (Reviewing Rüdiger Wolfrum Et Al. Eds., Wto: Trade In Goods, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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From Control To Communication: Science, Philosophy And World Trade Law, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2010

From Control To Communication: Science, Philosophy And World Trade Law, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

Science has recently become increasingly salient in various fields of international law. In particular, the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement stipulates that a regulating state must provide scientific justification for its food safety measures. Paradoxically, however, this ostensibly neutral reference to science tends to complicate treaty interpretation. It tends to take treaty interpretation beyond a conventional methodology under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which is primarily concerned with clarifying and articulating the treaty text. The two decades old transatlantic trade dispute over hormone-treated beef is a case in point. This article demonstrates that beneath the controversy …

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United States – Definitive Anti-Dumping And Countervailing Duties On Certain Products From China, Sungjoon Cho Nov 2010

United States – Definitive Anti-Dumping And Countervailing Duties On Certain Products From China, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Global Constitutional Lawmaking, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2009

Global Constitutional Lawmaking, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Book Review: Reviewing Mark A. Pollack & Gregory C. Shaffer, When Cooperation Fails: The International Law And Politics Of Genetically Modified Foods (2010), Sungjoon Cho Dec 2009

Book Review: Reviewing Mark A. Pollack & Gregory C. Shaffer, When Cooperation Fails: The International Law And Politics Of Genetically Modified Foods (2010), Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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The Demise Of Development In The Doha Round Negotiations, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2009

The Demise Of Development In The Doha Round Negotiations, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Green Protectionism Is No Less Harmful Than Any Other Type, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2009

Green Protectionism Is No Less Harmful Than Any Other Type, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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A Long And Winding Road: The Doha Round Negotiation In The World Trade Organization, Sungjoon Cho Sep 2009

A Long And Winding Road: The Doha Round Negotiation In The World Trade Organization, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

This article provides a concise history of the Doha Round negotiation, analyzes its deadlock and offers some suggestions for a successful deal. The article observes that the nearly decade long negotiational stalemate is symptomatic of the diametrically opposed beliefs on the nature of the Round between developed and developing countries. While developed countries appear to be increasingly oblivious of Doha’s exigency, i.e., as a “development” round, developing countries vehemently condemn the developed countries’ narrow commercial focus on the Doha Round talks. It will not be easy to untie this Gordian knot since both Worlds tend to think that no deal …

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Global Constitutional Lawmaking, Sungjoon Cho Aug 2009

Global Constitutional Lawmaking, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

Global Constitutional Lawmaking
Abstract
This article identifies a nascent phenomenon of “global constitutional lawmaking” in a recent WTO jurisprudence which struck down a certain calculative methodology (“zeroing”) in the antidumping area. The article interprets the Appellate Body’s uncharacteristic anti-zeroing hermeneutics, which departs from a traditional treaty interpretation under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the past pro-zeroing GATT case law, as a “constitutional” turn of the WTO. The article argues that a positivist, inter-governmental mode of thinking, as is prevalent in other international organizations such as the United Nations, cannot fully expound this phenomenon. Critically, this turn …

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An Identity Crisis Of International Organizations, Sungjoon Cho Feb 2009

An Identity Crisis Of International Organizations, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

An Identity Crisis of International Organizations

Abstract

International organizations (IOs) are ubiquitous. More than two hundred IOs touch our everyday lives, ranging banking to flu-shots. However, conventional political scientists seldom pay sufficient attention to IOs which they thoroughly deserve given their contemporary prominence. Because conventional international relations (IR) theories consider IOs as mere passive machineries, they hardly offer a satisfactory explanation on a distinctive mode of IOs’ institutional dynamic, in which a specific IO, as a separate and autonomous organic entity, grows, evolves and eventually makes sense of its own existence. This Essay offers a novel perspective which attempts to …

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The World Trade Constitutional Court, Sungjoon Cho Feb 2009

The World Trade Constitutional Court, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

The World Trade Constitutional Court Sungjoon Cho Abstract Although a court, as a judicial organ, usually fulfils its mission by resolving specific disputes brought to it, it occasionally goes beyond this simple dispute-resolving function and more actively engages in building policies which define, and “constitute,” the very polity to which the court belongs, as was seen in Brown v. Board of Education. If this “constitutional adjudication” is an integral function of any domestic high court, could (and should) an international tribunal, in particular the World Trade Organization (WTO) tribunal, also play such a distinctive role? This paper contends that the …

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Anticompetitive Trade Remedies: How Antidumping Measures Obstruct Market Competition, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2008

Anticompetitive Trade Remedies: How Antidumping Measures Obstruct Market Competition, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Development By Moving People: Unearthing The Development Potential Of A Gats Visa, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2008

Development By Moving People: Unearthing The Development Potential Of A Gats Visa, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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Of The World Trade Court's Burden, Sungjoon Cho Dec 2008

Of The World Trade Court's Burden, Sungjoon Cho

Sungjoon Cho

No abstract provided.

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