Challenges Facing Investment Disputes: Reconsidering Dispute Resolution in International Investment Agreements

International investment and international investment agreements have experienced a particular level of growth in the past few decades. With that growth and the granting of affirmative dispute resolution rights to foreign investors, international investment conflict has become increasingly highlighted; and one particular methodology - namely investment treaty arbitration - has become particularly visible. Reliance on this single option for resolving conflict has a unique set of systemic implications. This chapter therefore takes a more systemic look at investment treaty conflict and, in an effort to provide an appropriate historical and doctrinal framework, approaches to dispute resolution broadly. It asks for a reconsideration of Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods for resolving investment treaty conflict and highlights the costs and benefits of particularized dispute resolution methods, including preventative, negotiated, facilitated, fact-finding, advisory and imposed ADR mechanisms. The chapter ultimately argues that, while arbitration has utility, the challenge for the future will be to move beyond investment treaty arbitration to a more holistic approach to conflict management that considers other opportunities, particularly the collaborative design of sustainable dispute resolution systems.https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_bk_contributions/1232/thumbnail.jp