Anthea Roberts

[First posted by Anthea Roberts on EJIL: Talk! and Opinio Juris as part of a joint symposium on Is International Law International? (OUP, 2017)] We are familiar with the question: Is international law law? In my new book, I ask instead: Is international law international? Not particularly, is my answer—

First posted on EJIL: Talk! by Dapo Akande We are delighted to announce that over the next few days we will be co-hosting with Opinio Juris a discussion of our contributing editor, Anthea Roberts’ new and prize-winning book Is International Law International? (OUP, 2017). The book has recently been awarded

As described in a previous post, the UNCITRAL mandate on the possible reform of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) requires states to first identify and consider concerns regarding ISDS before going on to consider and develop any relevant reforms. Although states in the November 2017 session did not debate potential reforms,

In late November 2017, states from around the world convened in Working Group III at UNCITRAL in Vienna to begin debates about the possible reform of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). In accordance with the UNCITRAL mandate (see  Annotated Provisional Agenda) that was given in July 2017: The Working Group would

First published on Just Security. The United States disagrees with many countries, including key allies, on important questions of international law, including the geographical scope of armed conflict, the extraterritorial application of human rights, and the existence and scope of a right to preemptive self-defense. Underlying these particular disagreements is

In a recent ESIL Reflection, Malcolm Langford, Daniel Behn and Runar Hilleren Lie examine “The Ethics and Empirics of Double Hatting” in investor-state arbitration. (For the full article, see the Journal of International Economic Law). They found that a total of 47% of the cases they studied involved at least

In June 2017, Foreign Affairs published a piece entitled “Will Economic Globalization End? Foreign Affairs Asks the Experts.” In it, the editors explained that they had decided to ask a “broad pool of experts” for their take and so, as with previous surveys, they approached “dozens of authorities,” some with

The investor-state arbitration landscape is shifting under our feet. The utility and legitimacy of traditional investor-state arbitration have come under fire, but states have not converged on a viable alternative. In simplified terms, three main camps are developing, which I call the “loyalist,” “reformist,” and “revolutionary” camps. The vast majority

The Court of Justice for the European Union fired a significant shot at investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) this week, and the result is likely to be much more than just a flesh wound. In deciding that the European Union did not have exclusive competence to enter into agreements including ISDS

I have recently been pondering a common complaint voiced against the EU and Canada’s proposal for a multilateral investment court, which is that it would be biased against investors because all of the judges would be selected by states (see, for example, the ABA’s Report here and Judge