International Investment Law as Development Law: The Obsolescence of a Fraudulent System

Abstract

Fraudulent is a strong term to describe a system of investment protection that has come about over the course of the last three decades. But, when development is made the focus of the system and it is not delivered by it, the use of the strong term is justified. The investment treaties were signed upon the promise that development will result. That has not been the case. Instead, through interpretation, arbitrators have brought about a system of absolute investment protection far more extensive than that contemplated by the parties to the treaties and far removed from the original goal of economic development. The article analyses the process through which this has been brought about.