ABSTRACT
Crystal ball-gazing is always a hazardous exercise, especially when the object of speculation is both changing and controversial. Investor-State Arbitration (ISA) presents one of the most interesting new developments in public international law, granting standing to private parties under investment treaties. Investor-State Dispute Settlement has evolved very considerably from its origins in the 1959 German-Pakistani bilateral investment treaties (BIT). The government of Brazil has always been sceptical of the advantages of ISA and has in the past negotiated 14 BITs but not ratified them. Reflecting the popular unease with ISA, several developed democratic states appear to be adopting a very pragmatic approach to the inclusion or exclusion of ISA in investment protection agreements. South Africa has moved to denounce its BITs and other regional ISA commitments and has replaced them with a new comprehensive foreign investment protection law and a new expropriation law.
