The End of Trade and Investment Law As We Know It – From Singularity to Pluralism
Poul F. Kjaer: ‘The End of Trade and Investment Law as we Know It – From Singularity to Pluralism’, 67 – 71 in Alvaro Santos, Chantal Thomas and David M. Trubek (eds.): World Trade and Investment Law Reimagined: A Progressive Agenda for an Inclusive Globalization (London: Anthem Press, 2019).
8 Pages Posted: 4 Dec 2018 Last revised: 28 Aug 2019
Date Written: October 30, 2018
Abstract
The global trade and investment law regime is disintegrating. It is becoming increasingly impossible to speak of a singular regime spanning the globe; instead there are now several regional-based regimes with quite distinct characteristics.
A rethinking of trade and investment law (TIL) needs to take this insight as its point of departure and is possible only by understanding the structural composition and direction world society is taking and the deep-seated cultural and social (including political) structures and contexts within which it operates. Both orthodox and heterodox TIL relies on assumptions concerning the state of the world and the driving forces behind it, but those assumptions need to be subjected to scrutiny and substantial rethinking.
Keywords: WTO Law; trade law; international political economy; investment law; international economic law; economic law; international relations; global governance; globalization; law
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