International Investment Law’s Entanglement with Other Sectors

Abstract

IInternational Investment Law can be traced to the genesis of international law. Its aim is to protect the people and assets of international businesses. It was founded on reciprocal and bilateral contracts between leaders.1 There was a tendency in the last century to build a generic legal structure to supplement a network of bilateral treaties.2 Such an approach, embodied in the now-classic concept of "customary international law," went further than the idea that aliens needed particular treaty protection as a principle through their home state; instead, the novel approach was of a broadly applicable system of international law that protected aliens regardless of where they came from or the treaty correlation between their home and host state.3 Now more than ever, host countries are feeling the pressure to adopt an open arms policy toward foreign investors to accomplish economic growth and flourishment. This can be stressed by the majority of treaties having favoured foreign companies for entry and operation4 . Nonetheless, such pressures have been met with equal pressures to further regulate such sectors and foreign interactions. This includes countries such as Russia, which introduced a sectoral restriction; and Thailand, with more restrictions on foreign investment law5,6 .