ABSTRACT
This chapter rounds out the analysis of Private International Law technologies by examining the crucial role of private international arbitration global commerce. Arbitration has a long history in international affairs, but has been adopted and reconstructed as a key tool for the private resolution of transnational commercial disputes and has done so with the support of most states in the global system. Here, I explore the emergence and dynamics of private arbitration in the contemporary system, discuss the role of harmonization practices in this process, and focus on the impact of commercial arbitration in constructing private power and authority – often with the help of public power – in the global political economy. This chapter provides a closer look at the complex intersections between public and private power and law in contemporary capitalism.
