Contracts, Treaties, and the Public Space (comment)

Abstract : Daniela Caruso asks whether private law concepts may be instrumental in defending the interests of aggrieved thirdparties to Regional Trade Agreements, or whether the former are doomed to remain ignored “non-parties.” This comment builds on her arguments and extends the discussion to the case of sovereign debts and IMF conditionality, where the parties also tend to act as “monadic,” realist, international agents. The hypothesis that emerges is pessimistic: in the absence of a developed jurisdictional order—a form of constitutionalization— third-parties and their interests are as difficult to identify as the broader public space where they should belong.