Abstract
What role should concerns about distributive justice play in international investment law? This paper argues that answers to fundamental and contestable questions of social and global distributive justice are a necessary, if implicit, premise of international investment law. In particular, they shape our views on the purpose of investment law, and in turn determine the scope of authority that investment law can claim, and that states should accord it. The implausibility of achieving international consensus on these questions constitutes a substantial objection to the harmonization of investment law or the consistent operation of a multilateral investment court.
Acknowledgments
Earlier versions of this paper were presented at PluriCourts University of Oslo Workshop on Reforms of International Investment Arbitration: Philosophical Perspectives December 2018, iCourts University of Copenhagen Conference on The Power of International Courts May 2019, the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference August 2019, and Maynooth University Department of Law Research Seminar February 2021. I am grateful to audiences on each occasion, and to anonymous peer reviewers for this journal, for helpful suggestions.
References
Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada (USMCA) 2018.Search in Google Scholar
Aisbett, A. and L. Poulsen, Relative Treatment of Aliens: Firm-level Evidence from Developing Countries, University of Oxford, Global Economic Governance Programme, Working Paper No. 122 (2016).Search in Google Scholar
Aisbett, E. and J. Bonnitcha, A Pareto-Improving compensation Rule for Investment Treaties, 24 Journal of International Investment Law, no. 1 (2021), 181-202.10.1093/jiel/jgab006Search in Google Scholar
Barry, C., and L. Valentini, Egalitarian Challenges to Global Egalitarianism: A Critique, 35 Review of International Studies, no. 3 (2009).10.1017/S0260210509008626Search in Google Scholar
Berge, T. L. and A. Berger, Do Investor-State Dispute Settlement Cases Influence Domestic Environmental Regulation? The Role of Respondent State Bureaucratic Capacity, 12 Journal of International Dispute Settlement, no. 1 (2021).10.1093/jnlids/idaa027Search in Google Scholar
Besson, S., State Consent and Disagreement in International Law-Making. Dissolving the Paradox, 29 Leiden Journal of International Law, no. 2 (2016).10.1017/S0922156516000030Search in Google Scholar
Blake, M., Distributive Justice, State Coercion and Autonomy, 30 Philosophy & Public Affairs, no. 3 (2001).10.1111/j.1088-4963.2001.00257.xSearch in Google Scholar
Bonnitcha, J., L. Poulsen, and M. Waibel, The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).10.1093/law/9780198719540.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Brock, G., “Global Justice,” in Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2017 Edition), available at: <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/justice-global/>.Search in Google Scholar
Buchanan, A., “Institutional Legitimacy,” in D. Sobel, P. Vallentyne, and S. Wall (eds.), Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Vol. 4, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).Search in Google Scholar
Buchanan, A., and R. O. Keohane, The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions, 20 Ethics & International Affairs, no. 4 (2006).10.1111/j.1747-7093.2006.00043.xSearch in Google Scholar
Buchanan, A., Justice, Legitimacy and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations of International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).10.1093/0198295359.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Caney, S., Justice Beyond Borders: A Global Political Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).10.1093/019829350X.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Christiano, T., “Authority,” in Edward N. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition), available at: <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/authority/>.Search in Google Scholar
CJEU Opinion 1/17 on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union.Search in Google Scholar
Dolzer, R. and C. Schreuer Principles of International Investment Law, (2d ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).10.1093/law/9780199651795.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Dolzer, R. and F. Bloch Indirect Expropriation: Conceptual Realignments, 5 International Law Forum, no. 3 (2003).10.1163/138890303322398350Search in Google Scholar
Dworkin, R., Law’s Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).Search in Google Scholar
EU-CanadaComprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (2017).Search in Google Scholar
Freeman, S., Justice and the Social Contract (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006).10.1093/oso/9780195301410.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Garcia, F., Trade, Inequality and Justice: Toward a Liberal Theory of Just Trade Law (Brill, 2003).10.1163/9789004480155Search in Google Scholar
Green, L., “Legal Obligation and Authority,” in Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), available at: <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/legal-obligation/>.Search in Google Scholar
Howse, R., International Investment Law and Arbitration: A Conceptual Framework, NYU Institute for International Law and Justice Working Paper (2017).Search in Google Scholar
Kingsbury, B. and S. Schill, “Public Law Concepts to Balance Investors’ Rights with State Regulatory Actions in the Public Interest—the Concept of Proportionality,” in Stephan W. Schill (ed.), International Investment Law and Comparative Public Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589104.003.0003Search in Google Scholar
Kingsbury, B. and S. Schill, Investor-State Arbitration as Governance: Fair and Equitable Treatment, Proportionality and the Emerging Global Administrative Law, 9 NYU School of Law Public Law an Legal Theory Research Paper Series, Working Paper 46 (2009).10.2139/ssrn.1466980Search in Google Scholar
Kriebaum, U., “Human rights and international investment law,” in Yannick Radi (ed.), Research Handbook on Human Rights and Investment (Edward Elgar, 2007).Search in Google Scholar
Kriebaum, U., Regulatory Takings: Balancing the Interests of the Investor and the State, 8 Journal of World Investment and Trade, no. 5 (2007).10.1163/221190007X00152Search in Google Scholar
Miles, K., The Origins of Investment Law: Empire, Environment and the Safeguarding of Capital (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).Search in Google Scholar
Miller, D., On Nationality (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).Search in Google Scholar
Miller, D., National Responsibility and Global Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199235056.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Nagel, T., The Problem of Global Justice, 33 Philosophy & Public Affairs, no. 2 (2005).10.1111/j.1088-4963.2005.00027.xSearch in Google Scholar
Neer, v. Mexico, 15 October 1926, UN Reports of International Arbitral Awards, vol. IV.Search in Google Scholar
Nelson, T. G., Human Rights Law and BIT Protection: Areas of Convergence, 12 Journal of World Investment & Trade, no 1 (2011).10.1163/221190011X00102Search in Google Scholar
Ortino, F., The Origin and Evolution of Investment Treaty Standards: Stability, Value and Reasonableness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020).10.1093/oso/9780198842637.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Pauwelyn, J., “Rational Design or Accidental Evolution? The Emergence of International Investment Law,” in Zachary Douglas, Joost, Pauwelyn, and Jorge, E. Viñuales (eds.), The Foundations of International Investment Law: Bringing Theory into Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199685387.003.0002Search in Google Scholar
Perrone, N., Investment Treaties and the Legal Imagination (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).10.1093/oso/9780198862147.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Perrone, N., The International Investment Regime and Foreign Investor Rights: Another View of a Popular Story, 11 Manchester Journal of International Economic Law, no. 3 (2014).Search in Google Scholar
Polanco Lazo, R., The No of Tokyo Revisited: Or How Developed Countries Learned to Start Worrying and Love the Calvo Doctrine, 30 ICSID Review, no. 1 (2015).10.1093/icsidreview/siu028Search in Google Scholar
Rawls, J., Political Liberalism (Expanded ed., New York: Columbia University Press, 2005).Search in Google Scholar
Rawls, J., The Law of Peoples (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999).Search in Google Scholar
Raz, J., The Morality of Freedom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986).Search in Google Scholar
Raz, J., The Problem of Authority: Revisiting the Service Conception, 90 Minnesota Law Review (2006).Search in Google Scholar
Regan, D., What are Trade Agreements For? Two Conflicting Stories Told by Economists, with a Lesson for Lawyers, 9 Journal of International Economic Law, no. 4 (2006).10.1093/jiel/jgl034Search in Google Scholar
Sangiovanni, A., Global Justice, Reciprocity, and the State, 35 Philosophy & Public Affairs, no. 3 (2007).10.1111/j.1088-4963.2007.00097.xSearch in Google Scholar
Scheffler, S., Boundaries and Allegiances (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).10.1093/0199257671.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Schreuer, C. and U. Kriebaum, “From Individual to Community Interest in International Investment Law,” in U. Fastenrath et al.. (eds.), From Bilateralism to Community Interest: Essays in Honour of Judge Bruno Simma (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588817.003.0067Search in Google Scholar
Schultz, T., “Against Consistency in Investment Arbitration,” in Zachary Douglas, Joost Pauwelyn, and Jorge E. Viñuales (eds.), The Foundations of International Investment Law: Bringing Theory into Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199685387.003.0011Search in Google Scholar
Shan, W., From North-South Divide to Private-Public Debate: Revival of the Calvo Doctrine and the Changing Landscape in International Investment Law, 27 Northwestern Journal of Law and Business, no. 3 (2007).Search in Google Scholar
Shapiro, S., “Authority,” in Jules Coleman and Scott, Shapiro (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).Search in Google Scholar
Simma, B., Foreign Investment Arbitration: A Place for Human Rights? 60 International and Comparative Law Quarterly, no. 3 (2011).10.1017/S0020589311000224Search in Google Scholar
Simmons, B. A., Bargaining over BITs, Arbitrating Awards: The Regime for Protection and Promotion of International Investment, 66 World Politics, no. 1 (2014).10.1017/S0043887113000312Search in Google Scholar
Sornarajah, M., Mutations of Neo-Liberalism in International Investment Law, 3 Trade Law and Development, no. 1 (2011).Search in Google Scholar
Suttle, O., Debt, Default, and Two Liberal Theories of Justice, 17 German Law Journal, no. 5 (2016).10.1017/S2071832200021477Search in Google Scholar
Suttle, O., Distributive Justice and World Trade Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).10.1017/9781108235235Search in Google Scholar
Suttle, O., Rules and Values in International Adjudication: The Case of the WTO Appellate Body, 68 International and Comparative Law Quarterly, no. 2 (2019).10.1017/S0020589319000058Search in Google Scholar
Telenor, v. Hungary, ICSID Case No ARB/04/15 (2006) 21 ICSID Rev—FILJ 603, 13 September 2006.10.1093/icsidreview/21.2.603Search in Google Scholar
Van Ho, T., Is it already too late for Colombia’s Land Restitution Process? 5 International Human Rights Law Review, no. 1 (2016).10.1163/22131035-00501003Search in Google Scholar
Waldron, J., Law and Disagreement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198262138.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Yackee, J., Do Bilateral Investment Treaties Promote Foreign Direct Investment? Some Hints from Alternative Evidence, 51 Virginia Journal of International Law (2010).10.2139/ssrn.1594887Search in Google Scholar
Yilmaz Vastardis, A., Justice bubbles for the privileged: a critique of the investor-state dispute settlement proposals for the EU’s investment agreements, 6 London Review of International Law, no. 2 (2018).10.1093/lril/lry020Search in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Social Justice, International Courts, and Law
- Articles
- International Economic Law Tribunals and Global Social Justice
- Justice and Authority in Investment Protection
- Justice and the Reform of International Investment Law
- Corporate Social Responsibility in the Legal Framework of Global Value Chains
- Anti-discrimination Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union before and after the Economic Crisis
- Who Mobilizes the Court? Migrant Rights Defenders Before the Court of Justice of the EU
- Book Reviews
- Yong-Shik Lee: Law and Development: Theory and Practice
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Social Justice, International Courts, and Law
- Articles
- International Economic Law Tribunals and Global Social Justice
- Justice and Authority in Investment Protection
- Justice and the Reform of International Investment Law
- Corporate Social Responsibility in the Legal Framework of Global Value Chains
- Anti-discrimination Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union before and after the Economic Crisis
- Who Mobilizes the Court? Migrant Rights Defenders Before the Court of Justice of the EU
- Book Reviews
- Yong-Shik Lee: Law and Development: Theory and Practice