Global Administrative Law: An Italian perspective

Abstract

This Policy Paper collects a set of contributions given and discussed at the Conference on “Global Administrative Law: an Italian Perspective”, European University Institute, Global Governance Programme, 24 February 2012. The purpose of the conference was to present the work of a group of Italian scholars who have, to date, written more than a hundred articles or books on Global Administrative Law (GAL), and have been or are engaged in around ten collective enterprises on the subject. After a brief introduction by Sabino Cassese, in which the main features of GAL and its significance are examined, nine contributions deal with a high number of legal issues raised by globalization and global governance. All of them adopt a GAL approach in order to tame and frame relevant topics such as the role of administrative law beyond the State (Stefano Battini), courts acting as global regulators (Elisa D’Alterio), the global governance after the financial crisis (Giulio Napolitano), the global financial regulation (Maurizia De Bellis), global rules of public procurement (Hilde Caroli Casavola) and procurement regimes of international organizations (Elisabetta Morlino), global sports law (Lorenzo Casini), the relationships between GAL and EU administrative law (Edoardo Chiti) the transgovernmental power at the European and global level (Mario Savino). This Policy Paper aims at contributing to one of the most significant intellectual enterprise of 21st century, i.e. framing, understanding and explaining the legal implications of globalization. From this perspective, works here presented clearly show that public and administrative law can be very useful, but they must be studied solely in their usual paradigms. These latter were developed in national contexts as a set of values, principles, and rules necessary to the proper functioning of domestic institutions: they cannot be transposed mechanically to the global legal space and they must be adapted to such a different endeavor.