The African Renaissance in the Age of Globalization : What Role for International Investment Law?

Foreign investments may play a pivotal role in promoting the sustainable development of Africa, a continent with a huge – yet unrealized – potential. This book examines how the legal instruments for the promotion and protection of foreign investment have evolved and been adapted to reconcile the different private and public interests at stake.

Foreign investments may play a pivotal role in promoting the sustainable development of Africa. This book charts Africa's investment law revolution through the lens of the continent's Renaissance. It provides a rigorous and critical examination of how the continent is reshaping the rules of engagement. In many respects, African States and organizations have been extremely proactive and innovative in reforming investment treaties. They have continuously sought to strike a balance between, on the one hand, the effective protection of foreign investments, both in substantive and procedural terms, and, on the other hand, the legitimate exercise by the host State of its regulatory powers. These efforts have resulted in legal instruments that now feature important provisions on environmental protection, human rights, corporate social responsibility, labour standards, and public health.