International investment law in an isolationist world: a human rights perspective

Political events in 2016 marked a fundamental shift in the world order. The scale of the shift has precipitated claims that the world has entered into a new international order characterised by isolationist policies. This article addresses the validity of these claims with regards to international investment law. The article adopts a human rights perspective to argue that isolationist State conduct in international investment law can often be justified as an exercise of the right to economic self-determination. As the right to self-determination has been invoked in debates regarding international investment law since the 1960s and 1970s, it is suggested that some isolationist State practice is merely the latest manifestation of on-going policy tensions within the international investment law regime.