Shifting Paradigms in International Investment Law: More Balanced, Less Isolated, Increasingly Diversified

International investment law is in transition. Whereas the prevailing mindset has always been the protection of the economic interests of individual investors, new developments in international investment law have brought about a paradigm shift. There is now more than ever before an interest in a more inclusive, transparent, and public regime. Shifting Paradigms in International Investment Law addresses these changes against the background of the UNCTAD framework to reform investment treaties. The book analyses how the investment treaty regime has changed and how it ought to be changing to reconcile private property interests and the state's duty to regulate in the public interest. In doing so, the volume tracks attempts in international investment law to recalibrate itself towards a more balanced, less isolated, and increasingly diversified regime. The individual chapters of this edited volume address the contents of investment agreements, the system of dispute settlement, the interrelation of investment agreements with other areas of public international law, constitutional questions, and new regional perspectives from Europe, South Africa, the Pacific Rim Region, and Latin America. Together they provide an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. The individual chapters of this edited volume address the contents of investment agreements, the system of dispute settlement, the interrelation of investment agreements with other areas of public international law, constitutional questions, and new regional perspectives from Europe, South Africa, the Pacific Rim Region, and Latin America. Together they provide an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

Introductory Observations ; I. Investment Protection and Sustainable Development: Key Issues ; II. Negotiating New Generation International Investment Agreements: New Sustainable Development Oriented Initiatives ; III. Revising Treatment Standards: Fair and Equitable Treatment in Light of Sustainable Development ; IV. Expropriation in the Light of the UNCTAD Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development ; V. Investor-State Dispute Settlement and Sustainable Development: Modest Reform ; VI. The EC and UNCTAD Reform Agendas: Do They Ensure Independence, Openness, and Fairness in Investor-State Arbitration ; VII. Sustainable Development Provisions in International Trade Treaties: What Lessons for International Investment Agreements? ; VIII. Reconciling Investment Protection and Sustainable Development: A Plea for an Interpretative U-Turn ; IX. Investment Protection and Sustainable Development: What Role for the Law of State Responsibility ; X. Termination and Renegotiation of International Investment Agreements ; XI. The Emergence of a New Approach to Investment Protection in South Africa ; XII. Reliance on Alternative Methods for Investment Protection through National Laws, Investment Contracts, and Regional Institutions in Latin America ; XIII. Jumping Back and Forth between Domestic Courts and ISDS: Mixed Signals from the Asia-Pacific Region ; XIV. The 'Generalization' of International Investment Law in Constitutional Perspective ; XV. The Contribution of EU Trade Agreements to the Development of International Investment Law ; Concluding Remarks