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CALL FOR PAPERS

The Athens Public International Law Center (Athens PIL) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Law is hosting the ‘International Investment Law & State Capitalism’ Colloquium, which will take place on 15 and 16 October 2020 in Athens, Greece. The colloquium is jointly organized by Athens PIL; the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC) at Tilburg University, the Netherlands; and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) College of Law, Qatar.

The colloquium conveners are Panos Delimatsis (Tilburg Law School), Georgios Dimitropoulos (HBKU College of Law), and Anastasios Gourgourinis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Law; Athens PIL).

Colloquium Theme

International investment law developed in the second half of the 20th century as colonial law was being replaced by the domestic laws of the newly emerging independent states. The law was part of the new liberal world order that was in the process of being developed in the post-World War II era. This liberal world order assumed that capital would flow from private investors of the North and West into the developing countries of the South and East; it also assumed that the economies of the South and East would transition towards the market economy system and privatize government-owned assets and enterprises to private investors of the North and West.

Liberal capitalism has since given way to a new model of capitalism in international economy: state capitalism. State capitalism is reshaping the foundations of international economic law and the protection of sovereign investments under International Investment Agreements (IIAs), and potentially poses challenges to the system of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). 

In this context, it can be argued that state to-state dispute settlement (SSDS) is more suitable than the ISDS system for the protection of sovereign investments. At the same time, soft law instruments of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) offer few practical solutions.

The organizers of the colloquium invite scholars working in the relevant fields to submit abstracts of a conceptual, theoretical, and empirical nature on the following, broadly defined areas:

The Foundations of International Economic Order in the Age of State Capitalism

• The new political economy of international investment law
• The new philosophical foundations of the international economic order
• Capitalism, liberalism, and international economic law
• Third World approaches to state capitalism and sovereign investments

Sovereign Investors in the Age of State Capitalism

• Defining SWFs, SOEs and SCEs – is a universal definition feasible and/or desirable?
• The practical effect of IFSWF’s Santiago Principles and OECD’s Ministerial Declaration
• and the associated guidance for recipient country policies towards SWFs
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies of SWFs, NOCs, SOEs, and SCEs

Inward and Outward Sovereign Investments in the Age of State Capitalism

• National policies, such China’s One-Belt-One Road Initiative and Go Global strategy
• The role of BRICS, Gulf states and emerging economies as capital-exporters suo nomine
• The role of developed-economy SWFs in international investment law
• National security restrictions on foreign government ownership
• Foreign investment screening regimes relating to investments by foreign SOEs or SCEs

Arbitrating Sovereign Investment Disputes in the Age of State Capitalism: Procedural Issues

• Effectiveness of the ‘Broches test’ and its equivalents, if any, in non-ICSID arbitrations
• Grounds for exclusion of Sovereign Investments from the ratione materiae scope of IIAs
• Joinder of SWFs, NOCs, SOEs and SCEs in ISDS claims
• Suitability of SSDS and/or diplomatic protection over ISDS for sovereign investments

Arbitrating Sovereign Investment Disputes in the Age of State Capitalism: Merits Issues

• Admission rights for sovereign investments under IIAs and/or the 1994 General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
• Interpretation of non-discrimination obligations in IIAs in the case of sovereign investors
• Host states’ police powers vis-à-vis sovereign investors in its territory
• Fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security of sovereign investments
• Invocation of national security exceptions in IIAs vis-à-vis sovereign investors, compared to the security exceptions of Article XIVbis GATS
• Counterclaims against sovereign investors and attribution for the purposes of state responsibility

Venue, Participation, and Registration

The colloquium will be held at the premises of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Attendance at the colloquium will be open to the public, but a limited number of places are available. Speakers will be expected to bear the costs of their own travel and accommodation.

Key Dates

• March 15, 2020: Deadline for submission of abstracts
• April 15, 2020: Announcement of accepted abstracts
• August 15, 2020: Deadline for draft paper submission (6,000-8,000 words)
• October 15-16, 2020: Colloquium
• November 15, 2020: Deadline for final paper submission for publication (up to 12,000 words)