A Tale of Two Systems: The Public and Private Faces of Investor-State Dispute Settlement

Development summary

The article examines the legitimacy crisis facing investor-state dispute settlement, including concerns about interference with states’ regulatory space, fragmentation of investment law, and closed-door proceedings. It argues that the crisis is partly rooted in the system’s failure to uphold rule-of-law values such as transparency, accountability, and consistency. The article considers reforms aimed at addressing the dissonance between the public significance of investment disputes and the private arbitral process used to resolve them.