Workshop: International Investment Law and Development: Friends or Foes?

For several years, the Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop has been a forum to discuss conceptual issues of international investment law. Previous workshops focused on International Investment Law and General International Law: From Clinical Isolation to Systemic Integration? (Nomos 2011), International Investment Law and Its Others (Nomos 2012), and Preferential Trade and Investment Agreements: A New Ordering Paradigm for International Investment Relations? This year’s workshop, which will take place March 22-23, will explore "International Investment Law and Development: Friends or Foes?" The program is here. Here's the idea:

The relationship between international investment law and development is a matter of some controversy. For some, especially those arguing for a change in the current system of investment law and arbitration, investment (law) and development are incompatible. Others point to historical developments and more recent development summits (such as Rio 1992, or Rio +20) to argue that investment (law) facilitates development. The 2013 Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop seeks to re-assess the relationship between the two concepts. Following the ‘Frankfurt tradition’ of conceptual inquiries into questions of investment law, it will trace the history of both concepts and their interaction and consider how international investment law should be construed to contribute to development.