Investor-state arbitration, also called investment arbitration, is often accused of harming developing states facing economic hardship, for the benefit of a wealthy few from the Global North. Its proponents respond that it is the only available means to resolve disputes impartially, and that its...

Investment arbitrations should not happen too often, because they are costly processes for both parties. Yet they regularly happen. Why? We investigate the hypothesis that investment arbitrations are used as a means of last resort, after dissuasion has failed, and that dissuasion is most likely...

This chapter suggests that political systems theory allows us to make better sense of the fragmented understanding we have today of investment law in general and of investment arbitration in particular. Relying on a theory by David Easton, the chapter presents investment arbitration as a...

We now have a total of more than 650 investment arbitration claims. The number of countries targeted by arbitration is on the rise, both in the developing and developed worlds, and has reached a total of more than 100 states. Given the hard economic times that most countries have been going...

This article reviews legal scholars' key prudential and moral reasons to oppose the view that law can exist without the state. After a discussion of the real-world impact of views on what counts as law, the article discusses the following grounds for resistance to stateless law: law as something...

The IR literature has paid little attention to questions related to boundaries between international organizations. This paper aims at to contribute to the literature by providing a framework of analysis. After conceptualizing various border dynamics and outcomes, the paper outlines conditioning...

Understanding the nature and contours of transnational legality is an important challenge, as it may bear on the place that transnational law should be given within the existing frameworks of public and private international law. This article discusses three questions, which have emerged in the...

Imagine two groups of people. The first group is composed of a colourful patchwork of individuals: some young, some old; some wild, some tame; some from the left, some from the right; some chagrined spirits, some solar souls; some cultivating friendship and warmth, some pursuing individuality and...