Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it identifies the latest trends in investment treaty making and determines the degree to which these trends affect the regulatory space of nation states. Second, it situates the conflict between investment protection and national sovereignty on the level of investment treaties within the wider theoretical framework of the debate between neoliberalism and neorealism in the field of international relations.

Design/methodology/approach

This research paper uses qualitative content analysis of international investment treaties with the aim of comparing a sample of new investment treaties with a sample of treaties from a previous generation.

Findings

The findings of the paper indicate that the language of investment treaties signed recently tends to promote greater regulatory space for the nation states compared to previous generation of treaties. However, the analysis also suggests that the changes still offer significant leeway to investment tribunals in interpreting the new treaty language, which could mean that the move towards greater national sovereignty in international investment law will not be as significant as many suggest.

Originality/value

Originality of the paper consists mainly in explicit connection it makes between international investment law and the debate between neorealism and neoliberalism in international relations theory.

中文翻译：

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投资条约和国家主权：最新动态

目的

本文的目的是双重的。首先，它确定了投资条约制定的最新趋势，并确定了这些趋势对民族国家监管空间的影响程度。其次，将投资保护与国家主权的冲突置于投资条约层面，置于国际关系领域新自由主义与新现实主义争论的更广泛理论框架内。

设计/方法/方法

本研究论文使用国际投资条约的定性内容分析，目的是将新投资条约的样本与上一代条约的样本进行比较。

发现

该论文的调查结果表明，与上一代条约相比，最近签署的投资条约的语言倾向于为民族国家提供更大的监管空间。然而，分析还表明，这些变化仍然为投资法庭解释新条约语言提供了很大的回旋余地，这可能意味着在国际投资法中争取更大国家主权的举措不会像许多人认为的那样重要。

原创性/价值

论文的独创性主要体现在将国际投资法与国际关系理论中新现实主义与新自由主义之争的明确联系。