Dr George Forji Amin

Dr. George Forji Amin is a Lecturer in Law at the School of Law - University of Bolton. His research primarily focuses on Public International Law, International Economic Law, Political Economy, Legal History, Economic History, Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), and African Studies.

He graduated from the University of Helsinki (Finland) with a PhD in Public International Law, a MPhil (Licentiate in Law) in Public International Law, as well a Master of Laws (LL.M) in Public International Law - with Distinction. He is also a holder of a Postgraduate Diploma (Maîtrise en Droit) with specialisation in Common Law, and a Bachelor's Degree in Law (Licence en Droit) - both obtained from the University of Dschang (Cameroon) & Best Student Award.

He has taught at several universities including: The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, Liverpool John Moores University, and University of Helsinki.

His most recent Book: International Law and the History of Resource Extraction in Africa Capital Accumulation and Underdevelopment, 1450-1918 (Routledge 2023), interrogates the economic and legal structures that historically supported European intervention in Africa. The book contends that the doctrines of trade and property rights sanctioned by international law led to a trend of African dispossession that set the continent on a path to underdevelopment, with long-reaching consequences.
https://www.routledge.com/International-Law-and-the-History-of-Resource-Extraction-in-Africa-Capital/Amin/p/book/9781032208909

He is also an alum of Harvard Law School's Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP) as well as an Affiliated Research Fellow at the Manchester International Law Centre (MILC), UK.

He is also a core member of the GMBS Centre of excellence: Leadership and Empowerment (CLE), and GMBS Centre of excellence: Bolton Centre for Environmental Justice & Human Sustainability (BOLCEJHS).

Research Interests and Research Subject Specialisms:
1) Critical Approaches to International Law
2) The Plight of Africa in International Society/ Law
3) The International Criminal Court
4) International Law and the Legacies of Colonialism
5) Global poverty and Human Rights
6) Law and Capitalism
7) International Law and International Politics

Teaching specialisms:
1) Public International Law
2) International Human Rights Law
3) Equity and Trusts, Land Law, Medical Law and Ethics
4) International Economic Law
5) Dispute Resolution
6) International Investment Law
7) Legal Research and Methods

Publications and Research:
o Monograph: International Law and the History of Resource Extraction in Africa: Capital Accumulation and Underdevelopment, 1450-1918. (Routledge 2023).

o Article: "People as Property: Atlantic Slave Trade, International Law and the Making of the New World" [Forthcoming] Brazilian Journal of International Law (2024)

o Article: Nineteenth Century Cession Treaties with African Rulers and Ambivalence of International Law [Forthcoming] Third World Approaches to International Law Review-TWAILR (2024)

o Article: Transatlantic Slavery, Industrial Capitalist Mode of Production and the Politics of British Abolition Humanitarian (18th-19th Centuries)” [Submitted] Fundamina : A Journal of Legal History (2024)

o Article: ‘Marxism, International Law and the Enduring Question of Exploitation: A History’ 7 Athens Journal of Law (2021) 111-130

o PhD Dissertation: Encountering Underdevelopment: International Law, Capital Accumulation and the Integration of Sub-Saharan Africa into the World System (1492-1900); (UNIGRAFIA, Helsinki: 2020).

o Article: “All that Glitters is Not Always Gold or Silver: Typical Bilateral Investments Treaties (BITs) Clauses as Peril to Third World Economic Sovereignty” 6 Athens Journal of Law (2020) 299-322.

o Review Article: “A Marxist and TWAIL Reading of the Oxford Handbook of the Sources of International Law” Chinese Journal of International Law, Volume 19, Issue 1, March 2020, Pages 183–192.

o Review Article: “The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law” Journal of the History of International Law Vol 16, No. 1 (2014).

o Article: "International Law, the Civilizing Mission and the Ambivalence of Development in Africa: Conceptual Underpinnings " Journal and African and International Law, Vol 6. No. 1 (2013) 191-226.

o Monograph: Passing Through The World (Authorhouse UK, London: ISBN-13: 978-1467882712 : 2012)

o [Monograph]: Bilateral Investment Treaties as Instruments of Economic Hegemony: Qualifying the Implications for Developing Countries (Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, ISBN-13: 978-3639360967: 2011).

o Article: "Attaching the Right Meaning to Typical Provisions of Bilateral Investments Treaties (BITs): A Sketch" Journal and African and International Law Vol 3.No 3 (2011): 114-146.

o Article: “Drawing the Right Lessons from ICSID Jurisprudence on the Doctrine of Necessity "
(International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management), Arbitration: The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management 76.1 (2010): 44-57. Arbitration: The International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management 76.1 (2010): 44-57.

o Article: "Just Laws versus Unjust Laws: Asserting the Morality of Civil Disobedience" Journal of Politics and Law, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 156-170, 2010.

o Article: "What Goes Around Comes Around: The Return of Rejected Western Standards on Investment Through Bilateral Investment Treaties" Indian Journal of International Law 50.3 (2010): 633-670.

o Article: "The correlation between law and behaviour as pillar of human society" International Journal of Punishment and Sentencing Vol 6.No 3 (2010) (2010): 84-96.

o Book Review: “The Boundaries of International Law, A Feminist Analysis: Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin”, (Expert Law Journal, Vol. 24, July 2004)

Professional Online Profile Links
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/george-forji-amin-14979a4

Researchgate: 1) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/George-Forji-Amin-2

2) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/George-Forji-Amin

SELECTED CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS
o [Keynote Speaker]: “The Mission of TWAIL: International Law—Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”
The Relevance Of Global South Perspectives On International Human Rights Law, Ghent University Seminar of the International Francqui Professor Chair Thomas Spijkerboer (01 June 2021)

o [Keynote Speaker]: “Neo-colonialism: The Backbone of Underdevelopment in Africa” 2nd The Legacy of Colonialism in Today’s Africa Workshop, New York City Bar, 18 May 2021.

o [Convener]: “Global Poverty, Human Rights and Development: 21st Century and Beyond” Helsinki Science Initiative April 2021.

o “International Law and the Resource Curse Problem in Sub-Saharan Africa”
663rd International conference on Law and Society - ICLS New York, USA, 2020

o “Sovereignty, Political Elites and the Crisis of Poverty in Postcolonial Africa: A Sketch”
11th International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences, Johns Hopkins University (18-19 Nov. 2018)

o “Africa for Sale: The Crisis of Poverty, International Law and the Politics of Land Grabs” , African Society of International Law 6th Annual Conference 2017 (Dar Es Salaam)

o “Non-State Actors and the Privatisation of Africa”, Harvard Law School’s Institute for Global Law and Policy Workshop, 2016 in Cape-Town, South Africa. (Writing Workshop paper)

o “Land Grabs in Africa: Economic Imperialism?”, conference organizer and participant, Faculty of Law, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon (in collaboration with Harvard IGLP and Santander), July-August 2015 (publication forthcoming 2018)

o “International Law and the Economic scramble for Africa: Revisiting the Politics of Humanitarianism”, Harvard Law School’s Institute for Global Law and Policy Workshop, 2015, Doha, Qatar. (Writing Workshop paper)

o “The Gulf States, Kafala System and the Crisis of International Law”, Harvard Law School’s Institute for Global Law and Policy Conference, 2014, Boston, USA

o “Development Reconsidered: International Law and the Civilizing Mission in Africa”, Harvard Law
School’s Institute for Global Law and Policy Workshop, 2014 in Doha, Qatar

o “International Law, Civilizing Mission and African Economic Development in Historical Context”, 3rd International Public Law Conference, Bangkok-Thailand: (November 11-15, 2013).

o “Between Promise and Peril: International Law and the framing of Development initiatives for Africa”, 9th Annual International Conference on Law, 16-19 July 2012, Athens, Greece.

o Poster: “Violence on the Girl Child during Armed conflicts: Legal Deficiencies & New Thinking” (International Graduate Legal Research Conference, London, July 2009).

o “Interdisciplinary Research: A case study of Policy Instruments and Regulations to Address Environmental Changes in Cameroon” (NELN, Breaking Down the Barriers, Workshop in Iceland August 24-25, 2009)

o “Climate change, human rights and land displacement: Three sides of the same coin”, IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, Havard (2009)

o “A right to pollute? Inconsistency in environmental Governance”, (NELN Coherence and Consistency in Environmental Governance, OSLO 2009)

Affiliations
1) GMBS Centre of excellence: Bolton Centre for Environmental Justice & Human Sustainability (BOLCEJHS).
2) GMBS Centre of excellence: Leadership and Empowerment (CLE),
3) Manchester International Law Centre (MILC)
4) Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS)
5) African Society of International Law
6) Harvard Law School IGLP Alum
7) History and the Law Network