Analytical framework for assessing costs and benefits of investment protection treaties

This report considers the opportunities and challenges for the UK, both for its bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and through the new generation of European investment treaties. This framework is intended to help make policy choices when assessing the implications of a particular investment treaty. It has been used in producing the reports on proposed EU-China and EU-US agreements

Costs and Benefits of an EU-US Investment Protection Treaty

This report assesses the likely costs and benefits for the UK of an investment protection treaty between the European Union and the United States of America

Costs and Benefits of an EU-China Investment Protection Treaty

This report assesses the likely costs and benefits for the UK of an investment protection treaty between the European Union and the People’s Republic of China

The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime

Investment treaties are some of the most controversial but least understood instruments of global economic governance. Public interest in international investment arbitration is growing and some developed and developing countries are beginning to revisit their investment treaty policies. The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime synthesises and advances the growing literature on this subject by integrating legal, economic, and political perspectives. Based on an analysis of the substantive and procedural rights conferred by investment treaties, it asks four basic questions. What are the costs and benefits of investment treaties for investors, states, and other stakeholders? Why did developed and developing countries sign the treaties? Why should private arbitrators be allowed to review public regulations passed by states? And what is the relationship between the investment treaty regime and the broader regime complex that governs international investment? Through a concise, but comprehensive, analysis, this book fills in some of the many "blind spots" of academics from different disciplines, and is the first port of call for lawyers, investors, policy-makers, and stakeholders trying to make sense of these critical instruments governing investor-state relations

Cobalt complexes with tripodal ligands: implications for the design of drug chaperones

Extensive research is currently being conducted into metal complexes that can selectively deliver cytotoxins to hypoxic regions in tumours. The development of pharmacologically suitable agents requires an understanding of appropriate ligand–metal systems for chaperoning cytotoxins. In this study, cobalt complexes with tripodal tren (tris-(2-aminoethyl)amine) and tpa (tris-(2 pyridylmethyl)amine) ligands were prepared with ancillary hydroxamic acid, β-diketone and catechol ligands and several parameters, including: pKa, reduction potential and cytotoxicity were investigated. Fluorescence studies demonstrated that only tpa complexes with β-diketones showed any reduction by ascorbate in situ and similarly, cellular cytotoxicity results demonstrated that ligation to cobalt masked the cytotoxicity of the ancillary groups in all complexes except the tpa diketone derivative [Co(naac)tpa](ClO4)2 (naac = 1-methyl-3-(2-naphthyl)- propane-1,3-dione). Additionally, it was shown that the hydroxamic acid complexes could be isolated in both the hydroxamate and hydroximate form and the pKa values (5.3–8.5) reveal that the reversible protonation/deprotonation of the complexes occurs at physiologically relevant pHs. These results have clear implications for the future design of prodrugs using cobalt moieties as chaperones, providing a basis for the design of cobalt complexes that are both more readily reduced and more readily taken up by cells in hypoxic and acidic environments

How Do Host States Respond to Investment Treaty Law?: Some Empirical Observations

The proliferation of international investment treaty practice and the subsequent boom of investor-state arbitration have prompted an explosion of scholarly contributions analysing various aspects of this steadily expanding field of international law. Existing scholarship offers a rich seam of doctrinal, normative and theoretical critique of the evolving international investment law regime. However, with the exception of some recent studies, there have been relatively limited efforts to analyse international investment law empirically and in particular from a developing country perspective. This paper aims to contribute by filling the gap and offering some insights into the currently underexplored issue of how international investment law influences host state behaviour. In particular, the aim of this study is to test existing claims about the transformative impact of international investment law on national governance in developing states. The analysis is carried out through a small-scale empirical case-study which focuses on how international investment law is perceived by government officials in developing countries whilst also elucidating how governments responded to investment treaty disciplines after experiencing the regime’s bite

How Do Host States Respond to Investment Treaty Law? Some Empirical Observations

The proliferation of international investment treaty practice and the subsequent boom of investor-state arbitration have prompted an explosion of scholarly contributions analysing various aspects of this steadily expanding field of international law. Existing scholarship offers a rich seam of doctrinal, normative and theoretical critique of the evolving international investment law regime. However, with the exception of some recent studies, there have been relatively limited efforts to analyse international investment law empirically and, in particular, from a developing country perspective. This paper aims to contribute by filling the gap and offering some insights into the currently underexplored issue of how international investment law influences host-state behaviour. In particular, the aim of this study is to test existing claims about the transformative impact of international investment law on national governance in developing states. The analysis is carried out through a small-scale empirical case study, which focuses on how international investment law is perceived by government officials in developing countries whilst also elucidating how governments responded to investment treaty disciplines after experiencing the regime’s bite