Local Communities, Indigenous Peoples, and Reform/Redefinition of International Investment Law

Abstract

Abstract Calls to rethink international investment law (IIL) are not new. Yet, current reform efforts have been largely moderate undertakings that do not challenge the underlying rationale and structure of IIL, which have significant implications for local communities and Indigenous peoples. This article argues that while some ongoing reforms may mitigate some challenges of IIL, they do not challenge IIL’s underlying rationale and structure which form the basis for most of the system’s legitimacy concerns. To effectively address IIL’s legitimacy concerns, it must move from moderate reform to perspectives that can foster redefinition of the system, and this requires a re-turn to IIL’s encounters with local communities and Indigenous peoples. The article presents and elucidates three principles that engage the transformative potential of the positions of local communities and Indigenous peoples and support redefinition of IIL – self-determination and agency, democratization, and a reconstructed investment law consciousness.