Matei & Ciurtin: Turning Enemies into Adversaries: TTIP Negotiations and the Quest for a New Westphalia Momentum

Emanuela Matei & Horia Ciurtin have posted Turning Enemies into Adversaries: TTIP Negotiations and the Quest for a New Westphalia Momentum (Turkish Commercial Law Review, Vol. 2, Summer 2016). Here’s the abstract:

Neither universalism nor isolationism can be regarded as legitimate representations of a pluralist global society. In economic terms the current paradigm engenders instability by enhancing inequality within and among diverse constituencies. The present-day factual reality denies the zero-sum game pattern and, together with that, the reliability of the Westphalian model. What type of legal processes should be used in order to ensure investor protection for the purpose of concluding free trade agreements between the EU and a sovereign of equal calibre? With this question in mind and against the reality of an enlarged EU and other altered economic contingencies, this essay explores a number of relevant disputes on investor protection obligations and state aid control. Eventually, the essay advocates a model based on enhanced systematic – and thus open – communication across various constituencies and a more perceptive contemplation of the interactions between state and non-state trade governance as ground for a new conception of international trade relations in the new millennium.