Sovereign debt

James Thuo Gathii and Harrison Otieno Mbori

Chapter 49 in Research Handbook on Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), 2025, pp 595-608 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Sovereign debt is generated by a global financial and debt architecture that subordinates countries of the Global South for profit. The recurrent debt crisis that countries of the Global South experience is not an aberration but a systemic feature of the global financial and debt architecture. Similarly, the ad-hoc, temporary, and non-binding soft law approaches designed to address the chronic indebtedness of these countries are not incidental but integral features of a global financial and debt architecture dominated by the interests of private capital. To understand a Third World Approach to sovereign debt, we trace the important legacy of Mohammed Bedjaoui's vision, particularly his work at the International Law Commission (ILC) from the mid-1960s well into the early 1980s. We also trace UNCTAD's proposals on sovereign debt justice over the last couple of decades. The chapter contrasts Bedjaoui's radical approach with two alternatives. First, soft law proposals and second, ad-hoc, temporary, and contract-based approaches that are favored by the Bretton Woods institutions and private creditors and that now predominate sovereign debt debates.

Keywords: Sovereign debt; State succession; Colonialism; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; UNCTAD; Debt restructuring; Third World Approaches to International Law; TWAIL; Austerity; Bretton Woods institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781789901511
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