Master 2025/2026

Regional Economic and Trade Blocks

Type: Elective course (Law of International Trade and Dispute Resolution)

Delivered by: School of International Law

When: 2 year, 1, 2 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Vladimir Talanov

Language: English

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Regional economic integration has now become one of the major driving forces of international trade law development. Recent bilateral and plurilateral trade deals have not only expanded in number, but also dramatically amplified the regulatory scope of regional trade rules. A number of large regional trade agreements (RTAs) already reached or in the pipeline would undoubtedly change the patterns of modern international trade. The WTO Agreements permit RTAs as exceptions to general non-discrimination provisions; however, impose a number of requirements for RTAs to remain WTO-compatible. The great proliferation of regional agreements and mechanisms of trade disputes settlement bring the matters of competing jurisdictions and fragmentation of international trade law to the top of the contemporary agenda. The course aims at analyzing the landscape of modern RTAs, their distribution and future perspectives. Students learn to apply the diagnostic methodology to evaluate the impact of RTAs, appreciate the legal complexities of regional trade agreements and assess the actual tensions between the new generation of RTAs and the multilateral trading rules. The local context analysis empowers the students to evaluate the role and place of Russia and other ex-Soviet states in the regional integration processes, observe the recent developments in the Eurasian Economic Union and gain the understanding of the major contentious issues between the trading partners in the region. Following the successful completion of the course, students should be able to discuss the major legal problems arising out of multiple international agreements, apply major conflict resolution techniques, and discuss the harmonization and fragmentation of the multilateral and regional dispute settlement regimes.