Browse Hierarchy LAW7011: International Investment Law

The module aims to examine the laws, policies and legal issues affecting foreign investment and foreign enterprises, with special emphasis on the developing world and emerging markets. Thus the module will first examine the reasons why investors invest abroad and why host countries permit and/or actively encourage foreign investment. It will also explore the role that law plays in the investment process. Then it will discuss the rules, principles and institutions of public international law that affect direct foreign investment, followed by an examination of host country laws that both encourage and regulate foreign investment. The module will proceed to examine the establishment of the enterprise and the rules that affect the way in which it is organised and financed. Since portfolio investment by foreigners has become a new phenomenon in many developing countries, this module will then analyse the special problems this phenomenon poses for investors and for host countries. Once the investment has been made, its effective operation will invariably encounter a variety of legal problems. This module therefore carries on discussing these problems concerning investment operation. Further, the module assesses the political risks of foreign investment and the legal protection mechanisms necessary to eliminate or reduce such risks, including investment insurance mechanisms and bilateral investment treaty (BIT) programmes. Finally, the module will examine the dispute settlement regime of international investment.