International Arbitration and Global Governance: Contending Theories and Evidence

The majority of international arbitration literature is practice-oriented, technical, and promotional, and it primarily serves as a means of expanding practise and advertising. Non-participants' analyses are uncommon. This book departs from that tradition to consider international arbitration as a form of global governance, adding to the growing literature on the profound economic, legal, and political transformations in which key governance functions are increasingly exercised by a new constellation of actors other than national public authorities. The relevance and ramifications of international arbitration as a new centre of global private authority are assessed and critically discussed by leading law and social science researchers. As one might expect, opinions differ. Some regard the development of these private courts as a key component of a growing global private legal system that adapts to the needs of market participants without relying much on government intervention. Others worry that private courts will allow transnational players to avoid state oversight, resulting in an illegitimate legal system dominated by big transnational corporations at the expense of the public good.

Others acknowledge that these opposing viewpoints are important beginning points, but that they are too simplistic to fully comprehend the complex governance arrangements that have emerged over the last two decades. In conclusion, this book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the arguments in a spirited multidisciplinary debate about arbitration courts and their use of private governance power in the transnational domain. Beyond traditional nation-state institutions, this discussion produces important insights into subjects like legitimacy, constitutional order, and justice.