Gus Van Harten's Books

Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

Judicial Restraint in Investment Treaty Arbitration

By: Gus Van Harten

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Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

Judicial Restraint in Investment Treaty Arbitration

By: Gus Van Harten

Investment arbitrators rely on sovereignty for their legal status just as investor-state disputes usually stem from disagreements about the role of the state in society. As a result, investment arbitration is a vehicle for the exercise of sovereign authority and a site for contesting sovereign choices. This book investigates and evaluates the decision-making record and policy trajectory of international investment arbitration, from theoretical, doctrinal, and empirical perspectives. It analyses the extent to which the system used to resolve disputes impacts on the role of government, affecting diverse constituencies, as opposed to limiting itself to case-specific disputes between a single business enterprise and state entity. The book provides a comprehensive review of known awards in order to determine the types of government measures that have triggered disputes. It investigates how investment arbitrators have exercised their authority in recent case law. It provides a review of the approaches adopted in the reasoning of investment treaty tribunals on questions of judicial deference and respect for sovereign decision-makers. In doing so, it determines whether investment tribunals have taken a predominantly assertive approach to investor protection, without regard to their relative lack of accountability, capacity, or proximity in some cases. This approach does not sit comfortably with the relative restraint seen by domestic and international courts in similar contexts. The book argues that the unique characteristics of investment treaty arbitration make the experience of domestic judicial review more pertinent to international investment arbitration than to any other contexts for international adjudication. However, it argues that mediating devices in some form should be incorporated into the process in order to solve the tension between the extensive scope and potency of international investment arbitration as an important site of global governance, and the challenges of the review function in reviewing decisions which have strong claims to having comprehensive regulatory expertise, inclusive decision-making, electoral or other public accountability, or greater proximity to the underlying facts and context. Online Appendices

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Page Count

1063

Publisher

OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

019166796X

ISBN 13

9780191667961

The Trouble with Foreign Investor Protection

By: Gus Van Harten

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The Trouble with Foreign Investor Protection

By: Gus Van Harten

Governments are rightly discussing reform of investment treaties, and of the incredibly powerful system of 'investor-state dispute settlement' (ISDS) upon which they rest. At their core, ISDS treaties are flawed because they very firmly institute wealth-based inequality under international law. In this book, Van Harten explores these claims in the light of the history of early ISDS treaties showing their ties to decolonization and, at times, extreme violence and authoritarianism. Focusing on early ISDS lawsuits and rulings, it is revealed how a small group of lawyers and arbitrators worked to create the legal foundations for massive growth of ISDS since 2000. ISDS-based protections are examined in detail to demonstrate how they give exceptional advantages to the wealthy. Various examples are also offered of how the protections have been used to reconfigure state decision-making and shift sovereign minds in favour of foreign investors. Lastly, the ongoing efforts of governments to reform ISDS are surveyed, with a call to go further or, best of all, to withdraw from the treaties. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to know more about the shady world of investment protection.

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Page Count

225

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192635913

ISBN 13

9780192635914

Sold Down the Yangtze

Canada's lopsided investment deal with China

By: Gus Van Harten

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Sold Down the Yangtze

Canada's lopsided investment deal with China

By: Gus Van Harten

When legal experts finally saw the terms of the investment deal Canada had signed with China, they could hardly believe what their eyes. The deal was unprecedented -- Canada had never given so much away to a trading partner. But Ottawa did not allow a full public review, and ultimately ratified the deal in 2014 with no changes. And the government moved forward with other trade deals that contain many of the same flaws. In this book, investment treaty expert Gus Van Harten offers the first-ever independent take on the details of the China-Canada investment deal and what it means for Canadians. Many of the deal's provisions are so extreme that readers may find it almost impossible to believe that the Canadian government agreed to them. He explains how this agreement, and others like it, give multinational corporations and rich investors superpowers over governments. Secretive courts staffed by private lawyers, not judges, are able to order governments to pay these investors billions for policies and decisions they object to. In simple language and easy to follow analysis, Van Harten offers a window into this secretive and obscure world. He documents the many ways Canadians lose out in the China-Canada deal, and how taxpayers may find themselves footing the bill for billions of dollars to Chinese investors who object to the actions of democratically-elected municipal, provincial and federal governments. This deal -- in place for a minimum 15 years -- includes terms that may well turn up in other trade and investment agreements. Gus Van Harten offers practical steps for a better, more informed public debate on this vital topic.

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Page Count

370

Publisher

James Lorimer & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1459410726

ISBN 13

9781459410725

Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

Judicial Restraint in Investment Treaty Arbitration

By: Gus Van Harten

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Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

Judicial Restraint in Investment Treaty Arbitration

By: Gus Van Harten

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Page Count

217

Publisher

OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191667951

ISBN 13

9780191667954

Book's by Gus Van Harten

Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

The Trouble with Foreign Investor Protection

The Trouble with Foreign Investor Protection

Sold Down the Yangtze

Sold Down the Yangtze

Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

Sovereign Choices and Sovereign Constraints

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