Reforming Investment Law and Arbitration and the “New Economic World Order”: Between Myth and Reality

Abstract

Investment law and arbitration are currently the subject of profound reform discussions. Whether the investment law and arbitration reforms and reform proposals can properly be categorized as “old tools” that are used in “new ways,” and more generally whether the reforms in the end will result in a “new economic world order” remains however to be seen. I argue that the “old tools” in international investment law and arbitration are not always simply “old tools” or an exercise in conservativism. Notably when one looks at substantive norms in investment treaties, the apparent “old tools” have been perfected and modernized. In other instances, such as the proposal for an “investment court,” which could hardly be considered an “old tool,” reform proposals do not seem to radically shift the investment regime toward a “new economic world order.”