Afronomicslaw.org Marks the 2021 International Women’s Day: #Choose to Challenge

To mark the 2021 International Women’s Day themed #Choose to Challenge, Afronomicslaw.org celebrates women’s achievements through a Conversation Series with selected distinguished international (economic) law scholars from across the globe. We discuss inter alia their research interests, career highlights, achievements, challenges, lessons learned and advice to younger academics. As we gradually recover from the COVID-19 crisis following the approval and dissemination of vaccines, we discuss the changes to the world that they would like to see. Words that aptly describe our featured scholars include “Ambitious”, “Courageous”, “Curious”, “Friendly” “Organised” and “Positive.”

Research-to-Policy Transitions in International Economic Law

Conventional approaches view researchers as detached observers who can objectively analyse and explain the world, and policymakers as mobilising evidence to inform decisions. This paradigm can translate into institutionalised arrangements for linking research to policy. The UNCITRAL Working Group and the Academic Forum on ISDS provide one example, whereby scholars supply legal and empirical analysis for the Working Group’s deliberations.

Call For Regional Representatives For the Afronomicslaw Academic Forum (Eastern Africa) March 2021

Members of the Academic Forum are called ‘Regional Representatives’. There are three major ‘streams’ or ‘departments’ within the Forum; namely, the editorial stream, the partnerships stream and the general Stream. However, and for efficiency purposes, one must first join the general Stream and, where slot later opens up in either of the editorial or partnerships stream, he/she/they may apply for a position in the relevant Stream.

The Fate of the Developing States in International Arbitration and the Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard

In this book, the author took the interdisciplinary approach to explore the application of the FET clause in the IIAs between developed and developing countries as well as its subsequent effects on the socio-economic context of the developing state. The main aim of this book as stated in p. 171 is to re-conceptualize the FET clause from the perspective of the host States with comprehensive consideration of their social, political, and economic conditions.

Review of The Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) Standard in International Investment Arbitration: Developing Countries in Context

Probably buoyed by its relatively open-ended nature, the fair and equitable standard (FET) of protection of foreign investors has become a much more invoked arsenal than the claim of direct or indirect expropriation. As Professor Sornarajah notes in his foreword to the book, very few scholars have dealt with the impact that the relatively opaque, if not expansive interpretations of the FET standard by arbitrators has had on the host States, particularly those from the global South. Professor Rumana Islam’s work is a notable exception to this.

Afronomicslaw Symposium: Nigeria and International Law: Past, Present and the Future - Call for Blogs

We invite scholarly interventions, from established, mid-career, young faculty, doctoral candidates and practitioners to analyse Nigeria’s engagement with the scholarship and praxis of international law.

Afronomicslaw Symposium: Prospects for Deepening Africa-Caribbean Economic Relations - Call for Blogs

Given the limited but promising trade and investment relationship between both regions, there is a dearth of scholarly analysis on the Africa-Caribbean economic relationship. This Symposium aims to address this gap in international economic relations scholarship through considered analytical pieces exploring aspects of this understudied relationship.

Book Review: Rumana Islam, The Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) Standard in International Investment Arbitration — Developing Countries in Context, Springer, 2018.

The book flees from a Manichean vision of international investment law. It is not written against foreign investors and in favor of developing States. With a scientific caution, the author reflects on how bridges can be built between these two actors with the aim of upholding development priorities without undermining investors’ protection — thereby hinting at a fair and equitable treatment for host developing States