International Economic Dispute Settlement in Africa : Courts and Arbitral Tribunals as Socio-Legal Actors

This book fills the urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of the law, institutions, and processes shaping international economic dispute settlement within and beyond Africa.

African economies are becoming increasingly central in global trade networks. Understanding the continent’s dispute resolution mechanisms is more crucial now than ever. The book systematically analyses the existing sub-regional courts and arbitral tribunals, as well as their roles. It achieves this by focusing on Africa''s leading socio-legal actors involved in economic dispute settlement, including African States, transnational corporations, African international law scholars, international organisations, and African emerging transnational actors in arbitration. These 5 pillars create an ecology of socio-legal actors, interacting and intersecting to generate a complex social, political, historical, and legal variation matrix for understanding African international economic dispute settlement.

The book covers the 2 main international economic dispute settlement divisions: international court litigation and international public and private arbitration. It also carefully analyses sub-regional international economic courts and international public and private arbitrations in Africa through a Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) lens and socio-legal actors methodology.

International Economic Dispute Settlement in Africa provides invaluable insights for legal professionals, policymakers, researchers, and business leaders navigating the complexities of African dispute resolution.

Winner of the 2024 SIEL–Hart Prize in International Economic Law.