The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa

A large amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) has been poured into Africa in recent decades and these investments can come with adverse effects on the environment, human rights, and development. At the same time, investment treaties, entered into by African states and aimed at promoting and protecting FDI, seriously limit those states' ability to regulate such activities in the interests of affected communities. Whilst these tensions have generated global debate, little attention has been paid to the legal status of many of these investment treaties, and whether - given their constitutional and customary international law obligations to act in the public interest - African states truly have the capacity to conclude treaties which contain standards of investment protection expressly preventing or unduly abridging the exercise of their regulatory authority. Focusing on this question, The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa presents The Imperatives Theory: a legal, normative, and principled framework for rethinking the legal status, making, and reform of investment treaties and investment dispute settlement in Africa, with relevant and significant implications for the global investment treaty regime.