Events

About the Event:

International investment law has long faced criticism for systematically privileging the interests of foreign investors over those of host states, often at the expense of domestic economic and social policy. However, this critique, while familiar, is rarely examined in terms of how it shapes the interpretive stance of arbitrators themselves. This book is not a polemic or a reformist manifesto, but rather a doctrinal inquiry grounded in the internal logics of the system – its texts, its jurisprudence, and its hermeneutics. The argument is aimed at those already embedded in the discourse of investment arbitration - scholars, practitioners, critics, and arbitrators - and assumes a working knowledge of both the structure of the regime and the choreography of its case law.

The bookLink opens in a new window’s focus is on arbitrators’ duties, both as formally delineated in treaties and rules, and as they emerge through tacit interpretive practice. In doing so, I try and address the paradoxical expectation in contemporary critiques that arbitrators, while bound by the applicable law, should nonetheless act as agents of systemic correction, interpreting capital-centred instruments to produce outcomes more favourable to host states. The book shares many of the concerns behind these critiques. Investment law suffers from legitimacy deficits, particularly in the global south, where it constrains redistributive or regulatory policies. Arbitrators, however, cannot simply transcend the treaties they are appointed to apply. Reform cannot be smuggled in through interpretation: it requires moving beyond the bilateral investment treaty paradigm towards a new order of international economic law.

About the Speaker:

Dr Paolo VargiuLink opens in a new window is an Associate Professor at the Leicester Law School. His research interests lie primarily in the fields of law and religion, legal theory, and international law. Dr Vargiu is a qualified practitioner and acts as an independent arbitrator.