The associate professor of business law shared a case for expediting World Trade Organization accession of “Fragile and Conflict Affected” countries.
Christina Benson, associate professor of business law in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, presented a paper during the 2020 Academy of Legal Studies in Business, an annual conference that was hosted this year by the University of Connecticut from Aug. 3-7, after being moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Benson’s paper was selected through a competitive peer-reviewed process for presentation during the International Law/International Business session. The paper, titled “Getting Iraq on Track: A case for expediting WTO accession of ‘Fragile and Conflict Affected’ (FCA) countries,” focuses on Iraq’s experience as a case study for improving World Trade Organization (WTO) access.
The abstract reads: “The WTO should apply streamlined accession guidelines to countries classified by the World Bank as ‘Fragile and Conflict Affected’ (FCA). The WTO should permit FCA countries recovering from crisis, genocide, natural disaster, or other severe unrest, to take advantage of the more flexible ‘special and differential treatment’ accession provisions typically accorded to ‘Least Developed Countries’ (LDCs) in the existing WTO system, while also providing enhanced ‘trade-related technical assistance’ (TRTA) programming to FCA countries to speed their accession process. Expediting WTO membership of FCA’s will help such countries attract new investment, and encourage economic growth and diversification.”
Benson also participated in the International Law and Environmental Law sessions, as well as meetings on best practices for online teaching.
Benson earned her Juris Doctorate from UNC Chapel Hill School of Law and an M.B.A. from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business in 1997. Before joining Elon in 2007, Benson practiced law for several major international law firms in Washington, D.C. offices. Her research interests include international trade and commerce, economic development and corporate social responsibility.