In Investor State Arbitration in a Changing World Order, the authors examine the sustained
worldwide challenges to investor state arbitration arising from across the
political spectrum. These challenges have led to extensive and thoughtful proposals
for reform from the international arbitration community, domestic lawmakers, and
international bureaucrats. These reforms play an important role in the continuous
evolution of investor state arbitration, and will enhance the quality of justice rendered.
However, the authors argue, these reforms are insufficient to resolve the domestic
political challenges that investor state arbitration faces. Only political solutions that
justify for broad populations the international flow of capital and the independent
resolution of disputes arising therefrom can preserve the institution of investor state
arbitration. Absent the more equitable distribution of the benefits associated with the
international flow of capital, political support for investor state arbitration will remain
tenuous, notwithstanding the significant de-escalatory benefits investor state arbitration
offers.