Sustainable development, as defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development, is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." More specifically, sustainable development is a process of change that seeks to improve the collective quality of life by focusing on economically, socially, and environmentally sound projects that are viable in the long-term. Sustainable development requires structural economic change and the foundation of that change is investment. In developing nations with low levels of domestic savings, investment predictably comes from abroad in the form of foreign direct investment. A large and ever expanding number of international investment agreements are in place to govern these transactions. While these accords seek to foster development while mitigating the risk involved in these types investments, many questions remain unresolved. This highly insightful book reflects the contributions of a variety of world renowned experts each of which is designed to provide the reader with valuable perspective on recent developments in investment law negotiations and jurisprudence from a sustainable development law perspective. It offers answers to pertinent questions concerning advancements in investment law, including the negotiation of numerous regional and bilateral agreements as well as the increasing number of disputes resolved in the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), from different developed and developing country perspectives. It lays out future directions for new treaty negotiations and dispute settlement proceedings, as well as ongoing investment promotion efforts, against a background of rapidly evolving international relationships between economic, environment and development law. It focuses on key issues in investment laws which have emerged as priorities in the negotiation of bilateral and regional investment agreements, and have been clarified through recent decisions of the ICSID and other arbitral panel awards.

Foreign investment is meant to contribute to the host country's development, and yet international investment law has often been seen as an obstacle to (sustainable) development. So are investment and development friends or foes? Combining critical reflection and detailed analysis, this timely volume explores the relationship between the two concepts and explores options of harnessing investment for development.

The effect on developing countries of the arrival of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been a subject of controversy for decades in the development community. The debate over the relationship between FDI in developing countries and the progress of these countries towards human development is an ongoing and often heated one. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective combining insights from international investment law, human rights law and economics, this book offers an original contribution to the debate. It explores how improvements ...

Sustainable Development in EU Foreign Investment Law offers a clear and convincing assessment of how the EU contributes to the ongoing debate on sustainable development integration in international investment agreements.

This book argues that International Investment Law system – IIL - was the result of a colonial project within a capitalist system that has been influenced by the developmentalism discourse and the neoliberal ideology, becoming an instrument that facilitated forms of systemic violence against Third World countries. In order to develop this argument, Enrique Prieto-Rios uses post-war critical thought, chiefly Fanon as interpreted by Lewis R Gordon, the works pursued by academics, part of the Caribbean Philosophical Association, the Institute for Global Law and Policy, the international law from below (southern perspectives), and critical economic thought— particularly the notable economic contributions of Ha-Joon Chang and Latin-American philosopher Enrique Dussel.

This important book examines the development of soft law instruments in international investment law and the feasibility of a 'codification' of the present state of this field of international economic law. It draws together the views of international experts on the use of soft law in international law generally and in discrete fields such as WTO, commercial, and environmental law. The book assesses whether investment law has sufficiently coalesced over the last 50 years to be 'codified' and focuses particularly on topical issues such as most-favoured-nation treatment and expropriation. This timely book will appeal to academics interested in the development of international law and legal theory, to those working in investment law, Government investment treaty negotiators and arbitration practitioners.

This volume is dedicated to the life and work of Prof. Thomas Wälde (†2008), a leading scholar and international lawyer. Contributions reflect the eclectic and multifaceted career of Prof. Wälde, who was an authority on diverse areas such as natural resources law, international dispute settlement, international investment law and economic development. The authors are all leaders in their respective fields of international law, providing timely, critical assessments on the most challenging topics facing the international community. While the thrust of this volume is on international investment law and dispute settlement, contributors also address a wide array of related issues, including lex mercatoria, human rights, corporate social responsibility, and natural resources law. It will appeal to practitioners and academics alike. All royalties from sales of this volume assist in sustaining the Thomas Wälde PhD Scholarship in International Economic Law, at the Centre for Energy, Mineral and Petroleum Law and Policy in Dundee, Scotland.

This up-to-date and revised third edition offers a clear and comprehensive overview aimed at upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate courses on international investment law. Key features and benefits include: • concise descriptions of legal principles followed by classic and contemporary cases • extracts from and analysis of key recent decisions, revised investment treaty texts and new court system proposals • detailed discussion notes and all new ‘Questions to an Expert’ to enable classroom discussion and facilitate critical reflection.

The Oxford Handbooks series is a major new initiative in academic publishing. Each volume offers an authoritative and state-of-the-art survey of current thinking and research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned essays from leading international figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities and social sciences. The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law aims to provide the first truly exhaustive account of the current state and future development of this important and topical field of international law. The Handbook is divided into three main parts. Part One deals with fundamental conceptual issues, Part Two deals with the main substantive areas of law, and Part Three deals with the major procedural issues arising out of the settlement of international investment disputes. The book has a policy-oriented introduction, setting the more technical chapters that follow in their policy environment within which contemporary norms for international foreign investment law are evolving. The Handbook concludes with a chapter written by the editors to highlight the major conclusions of the collection, to identify trends in the existing law, and to look forward to the future development of this field.

With the growth of the global economy over the past two decades, foreign direct investment (FDI) laws, at both the national and international levels, have undergone rapid development in order to strengthen the protection standards for foreign investors. In terms of international investment law, a network of international investment agreements has arisen as a way to address FDI growth. FDI backlash, reflective of more restrictive regulation, has also emerged. The Evolving International Investment Regime analyzes the existing challenges to the international investment regime, and addresses these challenges going forward. It also examines the dynamics of the international regime, as well as a broader view of the changing global economic reality both in the United States and in other countries. The content for the book is a compendium of articles by leading thinkers, originating from the International Investment Conference "What's New in International Investment Law and Policy?"