Course 2026-2027 a.y.

Classes: 49 (II sem.)

Instructors:
Class 49: CARLO GARBARINO

Knowledge that is recommended to possess to successfully attend the course is the previous achievement of a bachelor degree in any field of humanities, social sciences and law.

The course “Ecology, institutions and tax governance” is organized in two connected layers. • The first layer includes: foundations of institutional ecology, the interdependence of ecosystems and legal institutions, and a blueprint for ecosocial institutions. • The second layer includes: an overview of global tax governance, an analysis of existing tax regimes globally, and a model of global tax goverance for addressing the ecological transition with particular attention to the EU. The objectives of the course are: • To acquire competence in applying concepts, frameworks and tools required for analyzing ecology, institutions and tax governance. • To recognize and understand the relationship between institutional ecology and global tax governance in connection with the ecological transition. • To be aware of the broad systemic forces currently impacting legal and fiscal institutions in the context of the ecological transition. • To appreciate the tasks involved in implementing legal and tax strategies connected with the ecological transition. • To scrutinize how, within the models of global tax governance, the ecological transition can be funded. • To understand the ways in which existing institutions and tax arrangements are responding to these challenges. • To develop skills in legal and fiscal analysis of complex issues at the interface of ecosystems and social systems, as well as oral and written communication.

The two interconnected layers of the course have a twofold goal. We will first learn about institutional ecology (first layer), and will then put the learning in practice by considering the constraints of global tax governance (second layer).

The first layer of the course deals with the following main topics:

• The foundations of institutional ecology (glocal, systemic and ecological logic).
• The first systemic level: ecosystems (a concise description of main features and systemic functioning).
• The second systemic level: social system and legal institutions in the ecological transition.
• The third systemic level: social-ecological systems as adaptive institutions.

The second layer of the course deals with the following main topics:

• From the Westphalian constitution of world tax order to new theories of global tax politics.
• The architecture of global tax politics.
• Existing global tax regimes and institutions (description, evolution and classification).
• Core elements of global tax governance (normative tax principles, reflexive tax authority, legitimation).
• Historical rise of the global tax governance system.
• Current dynamics of global tax governance.
• Models of global tax governance and the ecological transition (inter-state cooperation, cosmopolitan tax pluralism, minimal world fiscal state, cosmopolitan tax democracy)
• EU tax governace and the ecological transition.

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of the course student will be able to:

• know the concepts, frameworks and tools required for analyzing ecology, institutions and tax governance;
• understand through legal tools the current impasse in ecological and political discourse;
• be able to comprehend a  synthesis of ecological systems theory, institutional analysis, and political/legal ecology;
• be  aware of the broad systemic forces currently impacting the ecological transition.
• be  critically cognizant of the ways in which the ecological transition is debated in the legal and political process;
• be able to understand, as a legal expert, debates about systems thinking, ecological transitions, and global tax governance;
• recognize the relationships between global tax governance and the ecological transition.

 

At the end of the course student will be able to...

At the end of the course student will be able to:

• apply in concrete contexts and case studies concepts, frameworks and tools for analyzing the interdependence of ecosystems and legal/fiscal institutions;
• utilize the systemic framework uniting ecology and institutions to envision new adaptive, reflexive, and polycentric governance structures;
• be familiar with communication skills involving the institutional and legal analysis of the ecological transition;
• handle tasks involved in implementing legal and ecological strategies in institutional, political and legal/tax contexts.

• Lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments

·  Lectures

·  Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)

·  Individual works / Assignments

·  Collaborative Works / Assignments

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)			x
Collaborative Works / Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x

The assessment for the course – adopting a 31 points grading scale -  will be based:

- for 15  points on a class presentation of a case, which will take place as per the course syllabus,.

Case presentations will be group presentations to be delivered by groups of 5 Students, each group will receive a grade that will be the grade of each Student participating to the group. Each presentation will last 30 minutes, general feedback will be received at the end of each presentation and group feedback will be communicated to each Student. Further practical instructions will be communicated in the course of the dedicated seminars and posted on the online platform. Besides the texts of the assigned cases, the slides, essays and boos indicated in the Syllabus will be materials that Students are invited to use, in addition to other resources available through the Bocconi Library Portal.

- for 16 points on a final exam consisting of multiple choice questions which will be based exclusively on the slides and on the textbook.

C. Garbarino, Ecology and institutions, Mc Graw Hill, 2026

C. Garbarino, Global tax governance, 2026

Seletcted materials and papers added on the platform