CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ THE IMPACT OF INVESTMENT TREATY LAW ON HOST STATES: ENABLING … Mavluda Sattorova The Impact of Investment Treaty Law on Host States: Enabling Good Governance? Oxford: Hart Publishing 2018, 220 pp., ISBN: 9781849465854 [Dopad práva investičních dohod na hostitelské státy: Umožnění dobré vlády?] International investment law is currently under pressure. Its fierce critics are challenging the longstanding proponents of investment treaties and the regime they create. According to the proponents, international investment law has a positive influence on good governance. The traditional narrative describes how international investment law establishes a set of norms to help ensure the rule of law and the minimal level of good governance for foreign investors, and in this way, it improves legal environment in the Host State for everybody. However, recent academic literature raises questions which challenge such conceptualisation of international investment law. These questions clearly aim to attack the legitimacy of this system. After reading the first few pages of Mavluda Sattorova’s book, it is evident that the author belongs to this critical approach, which challenges the traditional narrative. The book poses the question whether investment treaties can exert a positive influence on Host States by fostering greater State’s compliance with good governance standards (p. 12). To answer this question, Sattorova employs and combines doctrinal as well as empirical methods, which in turn provide a unique conceptual framework of the study going beyond often argued academic contributions or just formal evidence of implementation of investment treaty rules. The book is divided into seven chapters. After the introductory Chapter 1, Chapter 2 explores the origins of the good governance narrative in arbitral jurisprudence with a focus on the development and construction of fair and equitable standard. Chapter 3 is probably the most pivotal part of the book. It presents several case studies on how the Host States implement obligations arising from international investment treaties and how they respond to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) cases. The findings are based on the author’s interviews with government officials in five developing states: Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Turkey, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. They are further complemented by an analysis of their domestic legal systems with additions of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. In many ways, those interviews provide important insight as to how investment treaties work “on the ground” and if they actually have (any) positive impact on domestic conditions for the rule of law. In other words, this part is a comparative analysis of how States internalise their experience with investor- state arbitration. The result of the conducted empirical case studies suggests that the Host States liability for a breach of treaty does not necessarily succeed to prevent future breaches or otherwise foster changes in governance practises. Chapter 4 explores the role of remedies under international investment law. Conclusions based on case studies show that the threat of monetary sanctions is unlikely to change a host government’s decision to breach an investment treaty where such breach is seen as more expedient in economic and political terms. The author at this point introduces a noteworthy proposal on optional remedy design. The use of a multi-tiered or two-stage remedial process

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