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About
Dr Mona Paulsen is an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science Law School. An expert in international economic law, Dr Paulsen researches and writes on economic security, international trade and investment law, and the law and politics of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She is regularly called upon to speak about international trade law, industrial policies, the intersection of trade and national security, and WTO reform. She holds a PhD in International Economic Law from The Dickson Poon School of Law, KCL and an LLM in International Law from The George Washington University School of Law.
Dr Paulsen contributes to the United Kingdom’s trade policies, engaging with the Department of Business & Trade and the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office. Dr Paulsen gave evidence to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy in February 2024 relating to the UK’s economic security, with substantive questions about international coordination considering trade and energy security, potential de-risking strategies, and the security of resources needed for UK economic development. She offers government consultations upon request.
She has presented her work at the WTO, the OECD, the UK Trade Policy Forum, the American Society of International Law, The Economist’s Global Trade Week, various academic institutions, and several seminars convened by the UK-based Trade and Public Policy (TaPP) Network. She has spoken in various podcasts, including the Peterson Institute for International Economics’ Trade Talks!, Geoeconomics, and TradeSplainin’. Dr. Paulsen serves on the editorial board for the World Trade Review. She regularly contributes to WorldTradeLaw.net’s International Economic Law & Policy blog. She co-convenes the London-based International Economic Law & Politics working group (partnered with the Journal of International Economic Law) and is a founding TaPP network member.
Prior to joining the LSE, Mona was Teaching Fellow for the International Economic Law, Business, and Policy LL.M. Program at Stanford Law School. Before that, she was an Emile Noël Fellow at the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice, New York University. She has been a visiting lecturer in the law departments at the University of California (Davis) and King’s College London. Mona is a qualified Canadian lawyer and admitted to the bar in Ontario (2007). She has been involved as both an advisor and legal researcher in several international investment treaty disputes and trade disputes arising from subsidisation.
Administrative support: Law.Reception@lse.ac.uk
Research
Research Interests
Dr Paulsen draws upon rigorous archival research to afford a historical context to contemporary concerns. She is completing a book (with Oxford University Press) that will reconceptualise normative debates concerning the functions and limits of the most-favoured-nation principle for multilateral trade governance during the interwar period. Her forthcoming article in the Yale Journal of International Law (2025) reconstructs U.S. planning for multilateral institutions designed to secure the global economy, with two case studies from 1947 to 1953 to demonstrate how U.S. trade policy never separated economics and security. Her 2020 article, Trade Multilateralism and U.S. National Security: The Making of the GATT Security Exceptions, has been cited by a WTO dispute settlement panel report for the dispute US — Origin Marking (Hong Kong, China).
Research Projects
Trade and security; economic security strategies; safeguards and industrial policies; risk regulation; law and politics of the World Trade Organization; sustainable development; alternate norms of most-favoured-nation.
Publications
Teaching
Engagement and impact
External activities
- Editorial Board, World Trade Review
- Co-Chair, International Economic Law & Policy Seminar Series
- Contributor, International Economic Law & Policy Blog
- Member, Society of International Economic Law
- Member, American Society of International Law
- Member, European Society of International Law
- Member, Canadian Council of International Law
Public engagement
- 'Managing Risks as a GATT Exception under GATT Article XX(j)' International Economic Law and Policy Blog 8 January 2024
- 'The Curious Case of US Self-Judging, Part 2' International Economic Law and Policy Blog30 January 2023
- 'Will the US bypass the WTO in its pursuit of a new status quo on trade security?' American Politics and Policy 14 December 2022
- 'How could China respond to recent US export controls?' International Economic Law and Policy Blog17 October 2022
- 'Friend-shoring' International Economic Law and Policy Blog 21 April 2022
- 'Characterizing War in a Trade Context' Opinio Juris 10 March 2022
- 'Thinking Creatively and Learning from COVID-19: How the WTO can Maintain Open Trade on Critical Supplies' Opinio Juris 2 April 2020
- 'The historical references in the U.S. First Submission in United States-Certain Measures on Steel and Aluminium Products' International Economic Law and Policy Blog(Oct. 6, 2019).
- ‘Inconsistencies in Investment Protection Standards’ OGEMID/Transnational Dispute Management (co-authored with Wolfgang Alschner), 2018.
- Submission to Global Affairs Canada: Recommendations for Canada’s Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (co-authored with Inu Manek), 2018.
- 'Transparency as a First Step for Tomorrow’s Investment Treaties' Reshaping Trade through Women’s Economic Empowerment: An Essay Series, The International Law Research Program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018.
- 'Federal Court of Canada hearing Canada's application to set aside Bilcon NAFTA award' International Economic Law and Policy Blog(4 February 2018).
- 'A NAFTA Proposal: Fix the FET Investment Protection Commitment' International Economic Law and Policy Blog(27 September 2017).
- 'The Forgotten U.S. Purpose of FET Clauses in Post-War Treaties' New Thinking on Investment Treaties, Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment and the Global Economic Governance Programme at Oxford University, 2016.