Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: Any Day Take-home

This course introduces students to the institutional, cultural, and social factors that create the structure for business law and its application in Africa, including its human rights dimensions. Both regarding direct cross-border trade and more complex international commercial transactions, certain commonly shared factors across the region influence the effectiveness of legal instruments that shape the business environment on the continent. These factors include statutory restrictions on the movement of people, capital, goods, services, and other factors of production. Even more far-reaching in its impact is the historic and continued significance of informal cross-border trade. Other considerations include the legal dimensions of China-Africa cooperation on infrastructure development, and the capacity of regional institutions to operationalise the emergent African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in a context of digitization and rapidly emerging new technologies. Students will study the plural legal environment in which business is conducted in Africa, while exploring the ways in which the business environment influences the law and vice versa.