Law Commons^™

Venezuela Undermines Gold Miner Crystallex's Attempts To Recover On Its Icsid Award, Sam Wesson

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is High-Finance An Extractive Sector?, Saskia Sassen

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The article examines some of the key features of high finance (henceforth, simply finance) from the angle of the mix of capabilities that constitute the sector. It has a radically different organizing logic from that of, for instance, the typical mass consumer-oriented corporation. The article posits that finance has de-bordered the narrowly defined notion of finance as simply "financial firms and markets." It emphasizes its capacity to financialize a growing range of material and non-material elements. This has also meant that the sector by now encompasses a very broad range of financial and nonfinancial institutions, different types of jurisdictions, a …

Shock Therapy, Social Engineering, And Financial Discipline: What Does An Increasingly Financialized World Mean For Democratic Participation?, Layan Charara

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

Over the last several decades, the Bretton Woods Institutions have come to be drivers of policy in the realms of economic liberalization and development, exceeding their original mandates of fostering monetary cooperation and facilitating post-war reconstruction. The structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have engendered mixed results–delivering some countries from financial crises, while inciting riots and compounding state failure in others. Such varied experiences suggest there is some disconnect between the conditions to lending promulgated by these institutions and the realities on the ground. This Note will trace the evolution of high conditionality lending …

"Development" Versus" Sustainable Development"?: (Re-) Constructing The International Bank For Sustainable Development, Johanna A.P. Lorenzo

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article scrutinizes the potential contribution of the World Bank, as an international economic organization, to the sustainable development agenda. Analyzing the reforms in policies, procedures, and organizational structure that accompanied the Bank's involvement in ostensibly political,non-economic matters such as human rights, environmental protection, and good governance--all of which are critical components of sustainable development--this Article contends that, contrary to the so-called mission creep argument, the evolution of the Bank's mandate is legally defensible and normatively desirable. Instead of amending its constituent instrument, the Bank has optimized the teleological-evolutionary approach to treaty interpretation to expand and reconstruct its mandate in …

The United Nations Convention On The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitral Awards: The First Four Years, A. Jason Mirabito

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Standard Investment Agreement: Text And Comments, Philippe Kahn

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Why China Established The Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, Daniel C.K. Chow

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On January 16, 2016, China officially opened the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for business, representing what might be a seismic shift in economic power from the United States to China. The AIIB creates a challenge to the U.S.-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), two venerable international financial institutions created at the end of World War II. The World Bank lends money to developing countries to promote economic development, but these loans come with conditions called the Washington Consensus--a set of policies designed to promote the use of private markets, protect the environment, protect human and workers' rights, …

Creditor Participation In The Hipc Debt Relief Initiatives: The Case Of Guyana, Magnus Saxegaard

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Precluding The Treasure Hunt: How The World Bank Group Can Help Investors Circumnavigate Sovereign Immunity Obstacles To Icsid Award Execution, Joseph M. Cardosi

Pepperdine Law Review

This Comment highlights the frustrating road that investors travel in search of assets when states do not honor arbitration awards and discusses how the World Bank Group can unify investor–state arbitrations to preclude such hollow victories for investors. Part II introduces the contemporary framework of investor–state arbitration, including an overview of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID or the Centre), a summary of the scope of noncompliance with investor–state arbitration awards, and the unique ICSID enforcement mechanism used to address challenges to awards and noncompliance. Part III provides examples of the challenges investors face in award execution …

A Review Of "Values In Translation: Human Rights And The Culture Of The World Bank," By Galit A. Sarfaty, Amanda Craig

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

The Human Rights And Wrongs Of Foreign Direct Investment: Addressing The Need For An Analytical Framework, David Shea Bettwy

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

The Sovereign Debtor's Prison: Analysis Of The Argentine Crisis Arbitrations And The Implications For Investment Treaty Law, Robert M. Ziff

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Over the last six years, several arbitration panels have released opinions in a series of disputes raised by investors against Argentina. In each case, foreign investors claim that Argentina's use of price controls and currency devaluation following the 2002 economic crisis constituted a violation of bilateral investment treaty obligations. Despite the fact that most claimants make identical allegations, many of these decisions are highly contradictory. In some cases Argentina is absolved of liability, while in others Argentina is held liable for hundreds of millions in damages. In aggregate, the claimants seek enough money to bankrupt the Argentine Republic.

Arab Spring Brings Winds Of Change To The Maghreb And Mena Region: Does That Spell Opportunity For Infrastructure Development And Project Finance?, Silvano Domenico Orsi

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Ubiquitous Money And Walking Banks: Environment, Technology, And Competition In Mobile Banking, Jongho Kim

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The World Bank's Blueprint For Promoting "Information And Communications", Sherille Ismail

Federal Communications Law Journal

Book Review: Information and Communications for Development 2006: Global Trends and Policies, issued by the World Bank.

This Review provides a summary and brief analysis of foreign private investment, the book's blueprint for reform, and how investments have fared in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. The book is a valuable asset for governments, scholars, investors, and the international community seeking to serve end users in developing countries.

The Summer Has Ended And We Are Not Saved! Towards A Transformative Agenda For Africa's Development, Nsongurua J. Udombana

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article examines the promised debt relief and commends the G8 for taking the initiative to assist a continent in crisis. The Article, however, argues that debt relief is far from a complete cure, and that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) needs more than handouts from the G8 to overcome poverty. Debt relief is merely the end of the beginning; it is, at best, a gesture of support to Africa's effort at meeting human security, which the African Union (A.U.) defines as "the security of the individual in terms of satisfaction of his/her basic needs." Africa's problems are conspicuous, though their solutions …

After The Argentine Crisis: Can The Imf Prevent Corruption In Its Lending? A Model Approach, Juan Carlos Linares

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Indigenous People's Right To Free, Prior And Informed Consent And The World Bank's Extractive Industries Review, Fergus Mackay

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

From Reluctant Champion To Development Ringmaster: Managing The Expanding Mission Of The World Bank, Jane Rueger

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Imf Structural Adjustment Programs To Economic, Social, And Cultural Rights: The Argentine Case Revisited, Jason Morgan-Foster

Michigan Journal of International Law

Perhaps as important as what this Note is, is what it is not: Economic theories abound concerning the causes of the Argentine crisis, some of which directly analyze the IMF's causal connection to the Argentine catastrophe. A Note on this subject would be one of economic theory, not international human rights law. While at certain points in the analysis of the human rights implications of SAPs, it will become difficult to avoid some speculation of economic theory, it is not the primary focus of this Note. Rather than implicate the IMF as part of the cause of the crisis, this …

The World Bank Inspection Panel: A Record Of The First International Accountability Mechanism And Its Role For Human Rights, Sabine Schlemmer-Schulte

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Multilateral Finance And The Environment: A View From The World Bank, Andrew Steer, Jocelyn Mason

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Dr. Steer and Mr. Mason begin by noting that since fundingfor

the Rio Earth Summit agreements has not been forthcoming,

multilateralfinanciailn stitutions (MFIs) have taken responsibilityf or

advancing the environmental agenda set forth at the Summit. Dr.

Steer and Mr. Mason note that MFIs furnish three crucial functions

in implementing the global environmental agenda. First, MFIs are

able to target investments in developing countries that involve

important environmental issues. Second, MFIs are able to support

policy reforms within developing countries to ensure environmental

standards and issues are properly addressed. Finally, MFIs can

multiply a small amount offunding into a significant …

The United States And The World Bank: Constructive Reformer Or Fly In The Functional Ointment?, David A. Wirth

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of The United States and the Politicization of the World Bank: Issues of International Law and Policy by Bartram S. Brown

World Bank Inspection Panel Update, Samir Desai

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Debt, Development, And Human Rights: Lessons From South Africa, Daniel D. Bradlow

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper, through a case study of financial sanctions against South Africa, demonstrates that it is possible to design a development-oriented financial sanctions strategy against any country that violates the human rights of its citizens and in which government regulations, including exchange controls, result in foreign-owned financial assets being trapped in the target country. This strategy will both deprive the perpetrators of the human rights violations of new funds and will help redirect the blocked funds into activities that are designed to promote the political and socioeconomic development of the victims of the human rights abuses. The means for identifying …

Legal Protection Of Loans To Developing Country Borrowers, Lajos Schmidt

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, in introducing the proposal for what is today the World Bank, John Maynard Keynes predicted: "In the dangerous and precarious days which lie ahead, the risks of the lender will be inevitably large and most difficult to calculate. The risk premium reckoned on strict commercial principles may be beyond the capacity of an impoverished borrower to meet, and may itself contribute to the risks of ultimate default." Three decades later this problem of the gap between the developed-country lender's required risk premium and the developing-country borrower's ability to generate an investment return …

International Agencies And The Capital Formation Process, Lester Nurick

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The theme of my address will be (a) the principal means by which the international public lending institutions (principally the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development--the World Bank), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)) join with others in the channeling of funds from private, governmental and other international sources for development projects, and (b) some of the main legal problems which arise.

An operation of this kind is usually called a joint financing operation. However, it should be noted that in a sense every loan by an international organization for …