Rethinking Investment Law

Abstract The rules and enforcement mechanisms of investment law and arbitration reach deep into the regulatory and policy space of host states; tribunals have the ability to second-guess all variety of state measures, and in doing so they have displayed a remarkable lack of restraint. Despite this muscularity, the prevailing orthodoxy treats investment law as a defensible and just restraint on politics. This volume is intended to correct this prevailing view. Rethinking Investment Law illustrates how investment law protections for foreign investors constrain states and compensate investors. A diverse set of contributors explain the conventional law and its limitations in order to help shape a more respectful approach to state jurisdiction to enact laws in the public interest. The analysis shows how doctrines taken for granted in orthodox accounts of investment law could have taken, and could still take, a different turn. This book seeks a more balanced vision of how international law can protect individuals in general, not just foreign owners of assets. Original and highly readable, Rethinking Investment Law will be an illuminating read for students and academics in areas such as investment law and international economic law, and will provide cutting-edge analysis for researchers and practitioners seeking alternative interpretations of usual standards of treatment.