The End of Trade and Investment Law as We Know it

Trade and investment law (TIL) does not operate in a vacuum. A rethinking of TIL can only be done on the basis of an understanding of the structural composition and direction world society is taking. Both orthodox and heterodox TIL relies on assumptions concerning the state of the world and the driving forces behind it which needs to be subject to scrutiny and substantial rethinking. The core paradox we are dealing with when seeking to rethink TIL is that increased globalization has implied an increase rather a decrease in global diversity. A future oriented TIL therefore need to be thought of in the plural and not in the singular as it is likely to fragment into a number of regional TIL regimes based on very different philosophies and institutional setups. The very idea of rethinking TIL is therefore in the need of a rethink. The core element needed for a rethinking of TIL is however beyond the control of lawyers. The hegemony of the legal discipline has been broken and the economics discipline now rules the world. Without a fundamental change to the status and internal composition of the economics discipline the endeavor to rethink TIL is likely to be futile.