This paper aims at taking stock of the criticism directed at the mechanism of international arbitration for settling disputes between international investors and host states. This paper also analyzes and describes the main attempts at reforming the arbitral model in response to those criticisms,...

The Lisbon Treaty has rung in a new era of democratic and human rights governance. In an attempt to redress concerns about the EU's alleged democratic deficit and inability to speak with one voice on cross-cutting issues of human rights, both the empowered European Parliament (EP) and national...

This article examines the principles of accountability applied by the European Investment Bank in comparison with the practices of other Multilateral Lending Institutions. After a brief description of the EIB and its activities, the substantive and procedural principles governing the EIB's...

This paper examines how the growing network of bilateral investment agreements and the arbitral practice have gradually shaped the content of international investment law. It is argued that the mere repetition of like provisions in a multitude of investment agreements is not by itself evidence...

Institutional investors have an important role to play in encouraging high standards of corporate responsibility performance in the companies in which they are invested. Yet, while issues such as climate change now receive significant investor attention, the same cannot be said for human rights....

This paper intends to provide insights as to whether institutional investors, through the framework proposed by the UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, can promote business respect for human rights worldwide. In this regard, the paper explains why investors are...

This article aims to analyze and interpret the views on international relations and international law expressed in Adam Smith's little studied Lectures on Jurisprudence, in connection with the works of Grotius, Hobbes and Pufendorf. In order to do so, the article first tries to unravel Smith's...

The file note consists of three parts of which the second part is the most extensive. The first part provides an overview of the policy field at EU level. It focuses on the current legal framework, its shortcomings and critical assessment of the 'new EU framework'. In the second part, the File...