- 04 Jan 2018
[Transsystemic Law] The Qatar Experiment – Reconciling International Financial Regulation with Domestic Legal Reality
(This event was organised by MEI’s Transsystemic Law Research Cluster, as part of its quarterly public speakers series.)
Abstract
Based on GDP per capita, Qatar is the richest country in the world. Its immense wealth is derived from Natural Gas exports. In the last 25 years, Qatar has undergone a radical transformation in terms of its economic prosperity and infrastructure investment. In an effort to leverage its newfound wealth into long-term sustainable growth (in an era of depressed hydrocarbon fuel prices), Qatar has sought to attract foreign expertise and investment in a diversity of sectors including education, sport and finance. One of the strategies implemented in Qatar has been the establishment of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC). The QFC is designed to be a familiar common law outpost in a region steeped in the Civil Law and Sharia Law traditions. The way in which policymakers have attempted to wed the two systems together and synergize foreign and local capital and expertise presents an interesting case study in trans-systemic legal frameworks.
About the Speakers
Andrew Dahdal is Assistant Professor of Commercial Law at the College of Law, Qatar University. After briefly practicing law in Australia, Andrew completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales in 2014 examining how the High Court of Australia uses history to interpret the Australian Constitution with a particular focus on the ‘banking power’. He has taught corporations law, contract law and constitutional law at Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) and has been a visiting Professor at the University of Padua (Italy). He has written on financial services regulation in Australia and recently completed a Qatar University Funded project examining the development of the Qatari financial sector. Andrew is the current Chairman of the Commercial Law group of the International Association of Law schools (IALS) and an Associate of the Centre for Law and Development (CLD) based in the College of Law, Qatar University.
