The paper sets out the legal foundations of an incremental approach to sovereign debt restructuring. As the political momentum that would be necessary to adopt an international treaty governing sovereign debt workouts is currently lacking, the incremental approach explores the possibility of...

This paper explores the potential of good faith, a well-established general principle of law, to guide debt resolution negotiations. After reviewing the criteria for the establishment of a general principle, the paper argues that debtor states and creditors are under a good faith duty to enter...

In this paper, we study the role of law for squaring democracy with a market-based financial order. We approach this issue on the basis of Jürgen Habermas’ discourse theoretical understanding of the role of law in the welfare state. Accordingly, law needs to be enforceable; law-making and...

Recently, a growing amount of data suggests that there is an intricate relationship between sovereign debt and civil unrest. This article proposes that the powers of the UN Security Council, and in particular its experience with the imposition of sanctions, should be used in order to restructure...

This special issue is a cooperation of the Yale Journal of International Law and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It emerged from UNCTAD's work on sovereign debt workouts, specifically from its Working Group on a Sovereign Debt Workout Mechanism (2013 to 2015)....

This paper relates to the proposed UNCTAD Draft Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing. It contains a questionnaire that has been used as a basis for the preparation of country reports for the purpose of a comparative study. The study aims at identifying the legal character of...

This paper argues that the development of a regime for sovereign debt workouts has created an asymmetry between the rights and interests of sovereign lenders and those of the population of a debtor state. It first analyzes the impact of sovereign debt workouts on human rights. Subsequently, it...

Foreign investment is perceived as one of the most significant factors for development and it is no accident that a key criterion for determining that an activity qualifies as an investment under the ICSID Convention is whether it contributes to the economic or other development of the host...

This paper argues that sovereign debt restructurings as agreed between defaulting states and their multilateral, bilateral, or private creditors constitute exercises of international public authority. Their authoritative character results from their effects on the citizens of the defaulting...