The climate surrounding foreign investment law is one of controversy and change, and with implications for human rights and environmental protection, foreign investment law has gained widespread public attention and visibility. This fully updated edition of Sornarajah's classic text offers thought-provoking analysis of the law in historical, political and economic contexts, capturing leading trends and charting the possible course of future developments. It takes into account the newer types of treaties that establish a regulatory space for states and moves away from inflexible investment protection, exploring the newly created defences relating to environment, human rights, indigenous rights and other areas ending the fragmentation of the law. It looks at the current debates on legitimacy of the system and current efforts at reform. Suitable for postgraduate and undergraduate students, The International Law on Foreign Investment is essential reading for anyone specialising in the law of foreign investments.

The past two decades have seen a significant proliferation of trade and investment treaties around the world. States are increasingly negotiating agreements that regulate both trade and investment, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The number of investor-state dispute settlement cases is rapidly accumulating each year, yet states' enthusiasm for investor-state arbitration has become more qualified as concern has intensified that the system can be abused by foreign investors. Good faith is therefore becoming increasingly important as a principle, particularly in the investment context, due to disputes about investor conduct such as corporate restructuring in order to gain the protection of a particular investment treaty regarding an existing or foreseeable dispute, and States' responses to public policy concerns through attempts to modify or terminate investment treaties in the face of ongoing or expected claims. Tribunals adjudicating investment disputes have used the principle of good faith in a haphazard and uncoordinated manner, causing serious problems of uncertainty and inconsistency. In response to these developments, this book contains the first comprehensive and integrated analysis of the treatment of good faith in international investment law, noting the broader implications of good faith in public international law and international trade law.

Since the 1990s, conflicts within international law on foreign investment have arisen as a result of several competing interests. The neoliberal philosophy ensured inflexible investment protection given by a network of investment treaties interpreted in an expansive manner, which led to states creating regulatory space over foreign investment. However, NGOs committed to single causes such as human rights and the environment protested against inflexible investment protection. The rise to prominence of arguments against the fragmentation of international law also affected the development of investment law as an autonomous regime. These factors have resulted in some states renouncing the system of arbitration and other states creating new treaties which undermine inflexible investment protection. The treaty-based system of investment protection has therefore become tenuous, and change has become inevitable. Emphasising the changes resulting from resistance to a system based on neoliberal foundations, this study looks at recent developments in the area.

Disputes arising from foreign investment activities are on the increase, and with them a growing awareness among practitioners of a greater variety of settlement methods than most legal analyses have dealt with heretofore. With the experience gained in recent years from a broad spectrum of successful negotiation, arbitration, and litigation techniques, it is possible to derive a comprehensive, critical survey of the principal methods of settling foreign investment disputes. This book provides such a survey. The subject is treated systematically, dealing first with the internal balances within modern foreign investment contracts, the complexities that arise due to state participation or interference in these contracts, and the stances that are taken when disputes arise. It goes on to examine, in turn, the main issues involved in negotiation, arbitration, and judicial settlement as the methods of settling foreign investment disputes, discussing the controversial themes in each of these methods in detail. Recognizing that the focus of attention is shifting to the misconduct of multinational corporations, the last chapter contains a discussion of the role of domestic courts.