Ashgate Publishing
June 1, 2007

A Legal Perspective: Unconstitutional Regimes and the Validity of Sovereign Debt

* Imprint: Ashgate
* Published: June 2007
* Format: 234 x 156 mm
* Extent: 240 pages
* Binding: Hardback
* ISBN: 978-0-7546-4793-5
* Price : £55.00 » Online: £49.50
* BL Reference: 343.8’203
* LoC Control No: 2006100191
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* Sabine Michalowski, University of Essex, UK

Sabine Michalowski’s work provides a much-needed legal perspective on the topical subject of Developing World debt repayment. The volume incorporates a single debtor country, Argentina, as an example to address global questions relating to this problem.

The work assesses the range of complex issues involved in the context of international as well as national law. It further examines the political pressure creditors may apply to make vulnerable countries adapt their economic and other policies in line with their wishes. These raise obvious constitutional issues for the debtor country and pose questions of whether and how the inequality of bargaining power in such situations could influence the validity of any measures taken, whether contractual or legislative. Argentina has been chosen as a case study because as a large debtor country, it represents these sorts of issues.

Contents: Introduction; Argentina’s debt in its historical and political context; The doctrine of odious debts; Redefining the doctrine of odious debts; (Un)constitutionality of debts taken up by unconstitutional regimes; Substantive constitutional limits with regard to sovereign debt; Impact of the unconstitutionality of loans on creditor rights; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author: Sabine Michalowski is Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Essex, UK. Her research interests are in Health Care Law, and she has published widely in these areas.

For further information, see here [PDF here].

Extracts from this title are available to view:

Full contents list [anotherPDF here]

Introduction [anotehrPDF here]

Index [anotherPDF here]