This book provides an insight into commercial relations between large economies and Small States, the benefits of regional integration, the role of Small States as financial centres as well as B2B and State to State dispute resolution involving Small States. Several contributions allow the reader to familiarise themselves with the general subject matter; others scrutinise the particular issues Small States face when confronted with an international dispute and discuss new and innovative solutions. These solutions range from inventive ideas to help economic growth to appropriate mechanisms of dispute resolution including inter-State dispute resolution and specific areas of arbitration such as tax arbitration. Researchers, policy advisors and practitioners will find a wealth of insights, information and practical ideas in this book.

Comparative Dispute Resolution offers an original, wide-ranging, and invaluable corpus of chapters on dispute resolution. Enriched by a broad, comparative vision and a focus on the processes used to handle disputes, this study adds significantly to the discourse around comparative legal studies. Chapters present new understandings of theoretical, comparative and transnational dimensions of the manner in which societies and their legal systems respond to difficulties in social relations.

EtYIL 2019 comes out while the world is in the midst of a new coronavirus pandemic that has infected millions and killed thousands of people without distinction as to age, race, colour, or creed. As an attack on all humanity, Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has challenged the fitness of the global order as never before, and its institutional and normative frameworks have been found wanting. As is often the case in such circumstances, when the WHO is denied resources to assist those countries or the WTO is unable to guarantee access to Covid-19 medical supplies and protective equipment, it is the poorest nations that suffer the most. EtYIL’s mission is to provide a platform for purpose-oriented scholarly analysis and debate on issues of particular significance for African countries such as Covid-19, disputes over Nile water resources, and Ethiopia-Eritrea relations. Although the pandemic came too late for this issue of EtYIL, we have managed to include two important articles that examine the subject from geostrategic and legal perspectives. EtYIL 2019 also addresses a number of other topical issues, including the responsibility of the UN Security Council (UNSC) in climate-related risks to least developed countries, the Global South’s approach to environmental protection, the challenges of international regulation of arms brokering, and the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. to Pan-Africanism and international human rights law. Finally, the Yearbook also continues its coverage of regional issues such as the evolving Ethiopia-Eritrea relations, Djibouti’s accession to the ICSID Convention; the trilateral negotiations between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the U.S. meddling and the role of the UNSC on the issue have also been covered. As before, our contributors come from all over the world, to all of whom we extend our sincere appreciations.

Volume 9 of the EYIEL focusses on natural resources law understood as a special area of international economic law. In light of increasing conflicts over access to and the use of natural resources and of their impact on political, social and environmental aspects, the contributions of this volume analyse to which extent international economic law can contribute to the sustainable exploitation, management and distribution of natural resources. The volume collects contributions on general principles of natural resources law, the importance of natural resources for trade, investment and European economic law as well as analyses of particular sectors and areas including fracking, timber, space and deep seabed mining and natural resources in the arctic region. In its section on regional developments, EYIEL 9 addresses two regional integration systems which are usually not at the centre of public interest, but which deserve all the more attention due to their special relations with Europe: The Eurasian Economic Union and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Further EYIEL sections address recent WTO and investment case law as well as developments at the IMF. The volume also contains review essays of important recent books in international economic law and other aspects of international law which are connected to international economic relations. The chapter "Sovereignty, Ownership and Consent in Natural Resource Contracts: From Concepts to Practice" by Lorenzo Cotula is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.

The number of international tax disputes is constantly increasing. This is a logical consequence of the pressure that is exerted on the global tax system by a rise in the number of internationally active and mobile taxpayers and tax competition between states on the one hand. On the other hand, the implementation of measures to tackle base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) by multinational enterprises already gives rise to further disputes and another increase of disputes might arise from the latest reforms of the international tax system, namely the Two-Pillar-Solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. Against this background, the time is right for an institutionalised international tax dispute resolution mechanism that takes into account the interests of taxpayers, states, and the public and allows for a swift and binding resolution of international tax disputes ¬– exactly what this timely and thoroughgoing book offers. A comprehensive overview of existing international tax dispute resolution mechanisms – and an analysis of their procedural rules, advantages, and disadvantages – leads to a deeply informed proposal on how they can be further developed in a way that ensures greater fairness and equity for all stakeholders. Among the lines of conflict that characterise international tax disputes, the author sheds clear light on how improvements in the design of dispute resolution mechanisms may be found. This includes these questions: How should a dispute resolution mechanism be structured? Should there be a mandatory resolution if the states cannot agree? In which way should taxpayers participate in the procedure? Should agreements and decisions be published? Should there be an institution to administer the procedure? The book concludes with a draft convention that would implement the author’s suggestions. Tax lawyers and other tax professionals worldwide, as well as national tax authorities, will benefit greatly from this book. They will deepen their understanding of the variety of existing tax dispute resolution mechanisms and discover ways to strengthen them. Academics will find ample room to reflect on the key design elements of such mechanisms and how to improve them.

As one of the most important international organisations in the sphere of international trade law, UNCITRAL aims to help develop and promote uniform private law internationally. This comprehensive Companion delineates the range of issues considered at UNCITRAL, as well as assessing the potential for future work and reforms.

This book updates the 1989 volume 'Caribbean in World Affairs' providing a comprehensive and theoretically-grounded account of diplomatic developments in the Caribbean. The new material includes attention to the changed global setting, updated theoretical developments in foreign policy, and the inclusion of Haiti and Suriname.

International Arbitration Law Library Volume 59 The eastward shift in international dispute resolution has already involved initiatives not only to improve support for international commercial arbitration (ICA) and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) but also to develop alternatives such as international commercial courts and mediation. Focusing on these initiatives and their accompanying case law and trends in the Asia-Pacific region, this invaluable book challenges existing procedures and frameworks for cross-border dispute resolution in both commercial and treaty arbitration. Specially assembled for this project, an outstanding team of experienced and insightful arbitrators and scholars describes pertinent developments including: ICA and ISDS in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative; the Singapore Convention on Mediation; the shift to virtual hearings and other challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic; mistrust of the application of the rule of law in certain East Asian jurisdictions; growing public concern over ISDS arbitration; tensions between confidentiality and transparency; and potential regional harmonisation of the public policy exception to arbitral enforcement. The contributors chart evolving practices and high-profile cases to make informed observations about where changes are needed, as well as educated guesses about the chances of reforms being successful and the consequences if they are not. The main jurisdictions covered are China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, India, Australia and Singapore. The first in-depth study of recent trends in dispute resolution practice related to business in the Asia-Pacific region, the book’s practical analysis of new resources for dealing with the increasing competition among countries to become credible regional dispute resolution hubs will prove to be of great value to specialists in the international business law sector. Lawyers will be enabled to make informed decisions on which venue and dispute resolution methods are the most suitable for any specific dispute in the region, and policymakers will confidently assess emerging trends in international dispute resolution policy development and treaty-making.

Small states face special hurdles in achieving development gains. These states spend significantly more of their GDP on producing public goods and services, and they face higher connectivity costs than do their larger brethren. Small States, Smart Solutions examines how some small states use international trade and telecommunications technology to outsource services such as justice, banking supervision, public utilities regulation, high-quality medicine, and education. Sourcing these services internationally poses unique challenges but also opens broad opportunities. The eight case studies in this book, based on interviews with government officers and citizens, describe pioneering initiatives undertaken by some small states to better the quality of life of their citizens.

This book explained the position, behavior, and role of the Small Powers (states) in the international system since Westphalia Treaty via historical prospect. By analyzing European Small Powers, there have been attempting to generalize and optimize within the theoretical framework possible ways for foreign policy activities of the former Soviet Union republics on the examples of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. This book is the first attempt to explain former Soviet states foreign policy as Small Power theoretically and to propose the most possible optimal behavior for them.