The divide between hard law and soft law approaches to global regulation of corporations in relation to human rights is partly based on empirical assumptions. Taking a step back, we assess the claims concerning the current state of global regulation and political feasibility of hard law...

The development of the modern investment treaty regime represents a remarkable extension of international law in the post-war period. However, the development of this regime has precipitated a backlash from some states, various civil society actors, and scholars over the past decade. For all...

The growth in the signing of international investment agreements (IIAs) in the period 1990 to 2009 can be characterised as an international public policy bubble. Like the rise of privatisation at the domestic level, the expansion of this international treaty regime was arguably premised on an...

Despite the flourishing of judicialisation of rights across the world, scepticism is not in short supply. Critiques range from concerns over the democratic legitimacy and institutional competence of courts to the effectiveness of rights protections. This article takes a step back from this...

Have investment treaty arbitrators responded to the so-called ‘legitimacy crisis' that has beleaguered the international investment regime in the past decade? There are strong rational choice and discursive-based reasons for thinking that arbitrators would be responsive to the prevailing...

On 10 December 2008, the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This new commentary aims to address the need for scholarly research, reasoned argument, consistent interpretation and creative approaches to...

Do Norwegian lawyers mobilize only to enhance their privileges and prestige? Or do they also engage in collective action for more noble ends? Contrary to materialist approaches, the theory of the ‘legal complex' predicts that the legal profession will struggle as an entity for ‘political...

The ongoing ‘legitimacy crisis’ in investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) has triggered a comprehensive attempt at multilateral reform. In 2017, Working Group III at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) was entrusted with a broad, open-ended and...

Investment arbitration has long been dominated by a coterie of Western “grand old men.” Is it still? In this paper, we examine the inroads women have made, drawing on a new database of approximately 4000 individuals in investment arbitration. We exploit the variation in appointment...

In this essay, we examine empirically whether the revised draft of the business and human rights (BHR) treaty is a normative advance on the existing jungle of global instruments. Since the 1970s, almost one hundred global corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards have been adopted, half of...