Foreign Investment
- LAST REVIEWED: 30 June 2014
- LAST MODIFIED: 30 June 2014
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0094
- LAST REVIEWED: 30 June 2014
- LAST MODIFIED: 30 June 2014
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0094
Introduction
International law on foreign investment finds its origins in the international law on the treatment of aliens and has long been regarded as an instrument of Western dominance over and exploitation of developing countries. In the aftermath of decolonization, both substantive and procedural rules on the treatment of foreign investment were at the center of developing countries’ struggle to gain control over their natural resources and establish a New International Economic Order. With the creation of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), in 1965, the World Bank sought to bridge the gap between capital-exporting and capital-importing countries by means of an international arbitration institution for the settlement of investment disputes between states and nationals of other states, offering investors a neutral venue, while freeing host states from power-based diplomatic protection. During subsequent decades, this “procedure first” approach was complemented by the development of substantive rules laid down in thousands of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). Having reached its climax during the first decade of the 20th century, with hundreds of investment arbitration proceedings, the system again faces a legitimacy crisis in both its substantive and procedural components, which are criticized for their inadequacy as a means of balancing private investors’ rights and the general interest. This evolution is also reflected in legal literature, which, as investor-state arbitration has developed since the late 20th century, was largely descriptive in nature and increasingly is more critical and normative.
General Overviews
Given the very large array of issues raised, both historically and in the early 21st century, by international investment law, many general overviews of this area of the law unsurprisingly tend, their general scope notwithstanding, to concentrate on subareas or to look at the issues from a specific perspective. Although it would appear at first glance to compile contributions on specific subjects, Muchlinski, et al. 2008 covers all the main areas of international investment law. Subedi 2008 equally presents a comprehensive analysis of investment law, both substantive and procedural, and is remarkably structured in its analysis of early-21st-century issues and ways to address them. McLachlan, et al. 2007 deals with the principles of investment law in the order in which they are likely to be addressed in arbitral proceedings. Salacuse 2010 brings an exhaustive analysis of the various aspects of investment treaties, including policy issues. This text mainly concentrates on substantive issues but has a chapter on dispute settlement. Dolzer and Schreuer 2012 is a concise yet complete and authoritative overview concentrating on the substantive principles of investment law, complemented by a presentation of the settlement of disputes. Newcombe and Paradell 2009 gives an equally exhaustive and stimulating analysis of the substantive principles, accompanied with ampler references than Dolzer and Schreuer 2012. Sornarajah 2010 offers a broad view of the subject matter, including capital-importing countries’ perspectives. This work also contains a chapter on the liability of multinational corporations. Alvarez 2011 analyzes the functions, critiques, and future of international investment law and provides excellent theoretical insight of great practical significance.
Alvarez, José E. The Public International Law Regime Governing International Investment. The Hague: Hague Academy of International Law, 2011.
Most valuable for its analysis of the functions, critiques, and future of international investment law; also provides excellent theoretical insight of great practical significance.
Dolzer, Rudolf, and Christoph Schreuer. Principles of International Investment Law. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
DOI: 10.1093/law/9780199651795.001.0001
A concise yet complete and authoritative overview concentrating on the substantive principles of investment law, complemented by a presentation of the settlement of disputes. Among the ideal student handbooks.
McLachlan, Campbell, Laurence Shore, and Matthew Weiniger. International Investment Arbitration: Substantive Principles. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
DOI: 10.1093/law:iic/9780199286645.book.1
Deals with the principles of investment law in the order in which they are likely to be addressed in arbitral proceedings. Despite its subtitle, the text discusses dispute settlement provisions, then examines the ambit of protection, including parallel proceedings, before turning to substantive rights.
Muchlinski, Peter, Federico Ortino, and Christoph Schreuer, eds. The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199231386.001.0001
A collective work, with very thorough contributions on all the main subjects of international investment law, grouped into three parts: “Fundamental Issues,” “Substantive Issues,” and “Procedural Issues.”
Newcombe, Andrew, and Lluís Paradell. Law and Practice of Investment Treaties: Standards of Treatment. Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands: Kluwer, 2009.
Gives an exhaustive and stimulating analysis of the substantive principles. Because of the numerous references, this book is also an ideal starting point for further study.
Salacuse, Jesuald D. The Law of Investment Treaties. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
DOI: 10.1093/law/9780199206056.001.0001
Brings an exhaustive analysis of the various aspects of investment treaties, including policy issues. The text mainly concentrates on substantive issues but has a chapter on dispute settlement.
Sornarajah, Muthucumaraswamy. The International Law on Foreign Investment. 3rd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Offers a broad view of the subject-matter, including capital-importing countries’ perspectives. The work also contains a chapter on the liability of multinational corporations.
Subedi, Surya P. International Investment Law: Reconciling Policy and Principle. Oxford: Hart, 2008.
Presents a comprehensive critical analysis of investment law, both substantive and procedural. Analyzes the evolution of investment law and the protection of investment in customary law and through BITs, fleshes out the principles through jurisprudence, and addresses a wealth of early-21st-century issues and ways to address the challenges.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Act of State Doctrine
- Africa and Intellectual Property Rights for Plant Varietie...
- African Approaches to International Law
- African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Af...
- Africa’s International Intellectual Property Law Regimes
- Africa’s International Investment Law Regimes
- Agreements, Bilateral and Regional Trade
- Agreements, Multilateral Environmental
- Aliens
- Applicable Law in Investment Agreements
- Archipelagic States
- Arctic Region
- Armed Opposition Groups
- Aut Dedere Aut Judicare
- Balance of Power
- Bandung Conference, The
- Boundaries
- British Mandate of Palestine and International Law, The
- Children's Rights
- China, Judicial Application of International Law in
- China, Law of the Sea in
- Civil Service, International
- Civil-Military Relations
- Codification
- Cold War International Law
- Collective Security
- Command Responsibility
- Common Heritage of Mankind
- Complementarity Principle
- Compliance in International Law
- Conspiracy/Joint Criminal Enterprise
- Constitutional Law, International
- Consular Relations
- Contemporary Catholic Approaches
- Continental Shelf, Idea and Limits of the
- Cooperation in Criminal Matters, Cross-Border
- Countermeasures
- Courts, International
- Crimes against Humanity
- Criminal Law, International
- Cultural Rights
- Cyber Espionage
- Cyber Warfare
- Debt, Sovereign
- Decolonization in International Law
- Democracy
- Development Law, International
- Disarmament in International Law
- Discrimination
- Disputes, Peaceful Settlement of
- Drugs, International Regulation, and Criminal Liability
- Early 19th Century, 1789-1870
- Ecological Restoration and International Law
- Economic Law, International
- Effectiveness and Evolution in Treaty Interpretation
- Enforced Disappearances in International Law
- Enforcement of Human Rights
- Environmental Compliance Mechanisms
- Environmental Institutions, International
- Environmental Law, International
- Estoppel
- European Arrest Warrant
- Exclusive Economic Zone
- Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties
- Fascism and International Law
- Feminist Approaches to International Law
- Financial Law, International
- Forceful Intervention for Protection of Human Rights in Af...
- Foreign Investment
- Fragmentation
- Freedom of Expression
- French Revolution
- Gender and International Law, Theoretical and Methodologic...
- Gender and International Security
- General Customary Law
- General Principles of Law
- Genocide
- Georgia and International Law
- Grotius, Hugo
- Habeas Corpus
- Hijaz and International Law, The
- History of International Law, 1550–1700
- Hostilities, Direct Participation in
- Human Rights
- Human Rights and Regional Protection, Relativism and Unive...
- Human Rights, European Court of
- Human Rights, Foundations of
- Human Rights Law, History of
- Human Trafficking
- Hybrid International Criminal Tribunals
- Immunities
- Immunity, Sovereign
- in Latin America and the Caribbean, International Legal Pr...
- Indigenous Peoples
- Individual Criminal Responsibility
- Institutional Law
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and Inte...
- International and Non-International Armed Conflict, Detent...
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- International Community
- International Court of Justice
- International Criminal Court, The
- International Criminal Law, Complicity in
- International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ...
- International Fisheries Law
- International Humanitarian Law
- International Humanitarian Law, China and
- International Humanitarian Law, Targeting in
- International Intellectual Property Law, China and
- International Investment Agreements, Fair and Equitable Tr...
- International Investment Arbitration
- International Investment Law, China and
- International Investment Law, Expropriation in
- International Law, Aggression in
- International Law, Amnesty and
- International Law and Economic Development
- International Law, Anthropology and
- International Law, Big Data and
- International Law, Climate Change and
- International Law, Derogations and Reservations in
- International Law, Dispute Settlement in
- International Law, Ecofeminism and
- International Law, Espionage in
- International Law, Hegemony in
- International Law in Cyberspace, China and
- International Law in Greek
- International Law in Italian
- International Law in Northeast Asia
- International Law in Portuguese
- International Law in Turkish
- International Law, Legitimacy in
- International Law, Marxist Approaches to
- International Law, Military Intervention in
- International Law, Money Laundering in
- International Law, Monism and Dualism in
- International Law, Peacekeeping in
- International Law, Proportionality in
- International Law, Reasonableness in
- International Law, Recognition in
- International Law, Self-Determination in
- International Law, State Responsibility in
- International Law, State Succession in
- International Law, the State in
- International Law, The Turkish-Greek Population Exchange a...
- International Law, the Turn to History in
- International Law, The United States and
- International Law, Trade and Development in
- International Law, Unequal Treaties in
- International Law, Use of Force in
- International Legal Personality
- International Regulation of the Internet
- International Relations Study in China, International Law ...
- International Rule of Law, An
- International Territorial Administration
- International Trade and Human Rights
- Intervention, Humanitarian
- Investment Protection Treaties
- Investor-State Conciliation and Mediation
- Iran and International Law
- Iraq War, Britain and the
- Islamic Cooperation, International Law and the Organizatio...
- Islamic International Law
- Islamic Law and Human Rights
- Islands
- Jerusalem
- Jurisdiction
- Jurisprudence (Judicial Law-Making)
- Jus Cogens
- Just War
- Landlocked Countries and the Law of the Sea
- Law of the Sea
- Law of Treaties, The
- Law-Making by Non-State Actors
- League of Nations, The
- Lebanon, Special Tribunal for
- Legal Pluralism
- Legal Status of Military Forces Abroad
- Liability for International Environmental Harm
- Liberation and Resistance Movements
- Mandates in International Law
- Maritime Delimitation
- Martens Clause
- Medieval International Law
- Mens Rea, International Crimes
- Middle East Boundaries and State Formation
- Migration
- Military Necessity
- Military Occupation
- Minorities
- Modes of Participation
- Most-Favored-Nation Clauses
- Multinational Corporations in International Law
- Nationality and Statelessness
- Natural Law
- Neutrality
- New Approaches to International Law
- New Haven School of International Law, The
- Non liquet
- Noninternational Armed Conflict (“Civil War”)
- Nonstate Actors
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation
- Nuremberg Trials
- Organizations, International
- Pacifism in International Law
- Palestine (and the Israel Question)
- Peace Treaties
- Piracy
- Political Science, International Law and
- Positivism
- Private Military and Security Companies
- Protection, Diplomatic
- Public Interest, Human Rights, and Foreign Investment
- Queering International Law
- Rational Choice Theory
- Recognition of Foreign Penal Judgments
- Refugee Law, China and
- Refugees
- Rendition, Extraterritorial Abduction, and Extraordinary R...
- Reparations
- Russian Approaches to International Law
- Sanctions, International
- Sanctions, International
- Secession
- Self-Defense
- Slavery
- Soft Law
- Space Law
- Spanish School of International Law (c. 16th and 17th Cent...
- Sports Law, International
- State of Necessity
- Superior Orders
- Taba Arbitration, The
- Teaching International Law
- Territorial Title
- Terrorism
- The 1948 Arab-Israeli Conflict and International Law
- The Ottoman Empire and International Law
- Theory, Critical International Legal
- Tibet
- Tokyo Trials, The
- Torture
- Transnational Constitutionalism, Africa and
- Transnational Corruption
- Treaty Interpretation
- Ukrainian Approaches
- UN Partition Plan for Palestine and International Law, The
- UN Security Council, Women and the
- Underwater Cultural Heritage
- Unilateral Acts
- United Nations and its Principal Organs, The
- Universal Jurisdiction
- Uti Possidetis Iuris
- Vatican and the Holy See
- Victims’ Rights, International Criminal Law, and Proceedin...
- War Crimes
- Watercourses, International
- Western Sahara
- World Trade Organization Law, China and