Table Of Content“Manjiao Chi has written an excellent work on the existing efforts of integrating
the goals of sustainable development into the framework of investment agree -
ments. The book defines sustainable development as the goal to be achieved, its
incorporation within investment treaties and the improvements that could be
made to make such incorporation more effective so that invest ment protection
could be enmeshed with the achievement of the goals of sustainable develop ment.
This work will have a definite impact on the future course of the development of
the international law on foreign investment”.
M. Sornarajah, CJ Koh Professor of Law, Faculty of Law,
National University of Singapore
“This is a first rate primer on how to think about ‘sustainable development’ for
purposes of the international investment regime. Professor Manjiao Chi goes
beyond the obvious, such as mentioning ‘sustainable development’ in the pre am -
bles of investment treaties, to consider, for example, how changes to substantive
investment obligations and to the procedures applicable within investor-state
arbitrations can further the economic and other goals associated with ‘sustain -
able development’. He also makes a plausible case that changes to investment
treaties, including moves in favor of greater transparency and amicus partici-
pation, can make a useful contribution to our understanding of what the vague,
but often cited, principle of ‘sustainable development’ means”.
José E. Alvarez, Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of
International Law, NYU School of Law, USA
Integrating Sustainable Development
in International Investment Law
The current international investment law system is insufficiently compatible with
sustainable development. To better address sustainable development concerns
associated with transnational investment activities, international invest ment
agreements should be made more compatible with sustainable development.
Integrating Sustainable Development in International Investment Lawpresents an
important systematic study of the issue of sustainable development in the inter -
national investment law system, using conceptual, normative and governance
perspectives to explore the challenges and possible solutions for making interna-
tional investment law more compatible with sustainable develop ment. Chi
suggests that to effectively address the sustainable development concerns
associated with transnational investment activities, the international investment
agreements system should be reformed. Such reform should feature redesigning
the provisions of the agreements, improving the structure of international
investment agreements, strengthening the function of soft law, engaging non-
state actors and enhancing the dispute settlement mechanism.
The book is primarily aimed at national and international treaty and policy-
makers, lawyers and scholars. It is also suitable for graduate students studying
international law and policymaking.
Manjiao Chi is a Professor of International Law at Xiamen University, the
People’s Republic of China, Deputy Secretary-General, the Administrative
Council of Xiamen Academy of International Law, and was a Senior Fellow at
the Centre for Global Cooperation Research, Germany.
Routledge Global Cooperation Series
This series develops innovative approaches to understanding, explaining and
answering one of the most pressing questions of our time – how can cooperation
in a culturally diverse world of nine billion people succeed?
We are rapidly approaching our planet’s limits, with trends such as advancing
climate change and the destruction of biological diversity jeopardizing our natural
life support systems. Accelerated globalization processes lead to an ever-growing
interconnectedness of markets, states, societies, and individuals. Many of today’s
problems cannot be solved by nation states alone. Intensified cooperation at the
local, national, international, and global level is needed to tackle current and
looming global crises.
Series Editors:
Tobias Debiel, Claus Leggewie and Dirk Messner are Co-directors of the Käte
Hamburger Kolleg/Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of
Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Their research areas are, among others, global govern -
ance, climate change, peacebuilding and cultural diversity of global citizenship.
The three co-directors are, at the same time, based in their home institutions,
which participate in the Centre, namely the German Development Institute/
Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE, Messner) in Bonn, the Institute
for Development and Peace (INEF, Debiel) in Duisburg and the Institute for
Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI, Leggewie) in Essen.
www.routledge.com/Routledge-Global-Cooperation-Series/book-series/RGC
American Hegemony and the Rise of Emerging Powers
Cooperation or Conflict
Edited by Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr and James Parisot
Integrating Sustainable Development in International Investment Law
Normative Incompatibility, System Integration and Governance Implications
Manjiao Chi
Integrating Sustainable
Development in International
Investment Law
Normative Incompatibility, System
Integration and Governance Implications
Manjiao Chi
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Manjiao Chi
The right of Manjiao Chi to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without
intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chi, Manjiao, 1976-, author.
Title: Integrating sustainable development in international investment law :
normative incompatibility, system integration and governance implications /
Manjiao Chi.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge global
cooperation series | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017023066 | ISBN 978-1-138-18788-7 (hb) |
ISBN 978-1-315-64284-0 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Investments, Foreign (International law) | Sustainable
development.
Classification: LCC K3830 .C55 2017 | DDC 346/.092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017023066
ISBN: 978-1-138-18788-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64284-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by Fish Books Ltd.
To Eva Yimei Chen and Luvia Xuchen Chi
Contents
Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgements xii
Table of cases xvi
Introduction 1
PART I
The sustainable development challenge for IIAs 7
1 Sustainable development and IIA 9
2 Assessment of the existing models and proposals 27
PART II
Core sustainable development provisions in IIAs 39
3 Substantive provisions 41
4 Exceptive provisions 66
5 Public interest provisions 88
6 Procedural provisions 115
PART III
Transforming IIAs to be more compatible with
sustainable development 147
7 ‘Reconceptualizing’ IIAs from the governance perspective 149
