Benign and Radical Africanization in International Investment Law and Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Africa

MBORI, Harrison

doi:10.1163/22119000-12340305

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Benign and Radical Africanization in International Investment Law and Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Africa

MBORI, Harrison

2023 • In Journal of World Investment and Trade, 24 (4-5), p. 632 - 658

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https://hdl.handle.net/10993/63265

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10.1163/22119000-12340305

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Keywords :

Africanization; investment law; investor-State dispute settlement reform; neo-colonialism; pan-African investement; Business and International Management; Political Science and International Relations; Economics, Econometrics and Finance (all); Law

Abstract :

[en] The current Africanization approaches mask some nuances present in current reform efforts of international investment law (IIL) and investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) in Africa. I adopt the categorization of international law scholarship in Africa developed elsewhere into two trends: contributionist (weak) and critical (strong) scholarship. For reforms in African IIL and ISDS, I relabel this trends benign Africanization representing the contributionist (weak) strand and radical Africanization representing the critical (strong) strand. I argue that African states must focus on wider economic justice engendered in the radical Africanization approach. I propose three lines of action that will implement radical Africanization: first African States, in their reforms, must focus on both extra and intra-African investment; second, the reforms must engage deeply seated substantive issues in addition to the current procedural reforms; and finally, African States must have a real reckoning and engagement with the imperial history of IIL generally and ISDS specifically.

Disciplines :

European & international law

Author, co-author :

MBORI, Harrison ; University of Luxembourg > Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) > LCEL Research ; Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European, and Regulatory Procedural Law, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

External co-authors :

Language :

English

Title :

Benign and Radical Africanization in International Investment Law and Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Africa

Publication date :

2023

Journal title :

Journal of World Investment and Trade

ISSN :

1660-7112

eISSN :

2211-9000

Publisher :

Brill Nijhoff

Volume :

Issue :

4-5

Pages :

632 - 658

Peer reviewed :

Editorial Reviewed verified by ORBi

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https://brill.com/view/journals/jwit/24/4-5/article-p632_4.xml

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