Entrenching the right to regulate in the international investment legal framework: The African experience

Abstract

The existing traditional international investment law regime which is largely based on the conventional European and North American Model Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) has come under intense criticism. The argument is that this regime, among other things, prioritises the protection of foreign investors and investments while sidelining significant public interest issues of the host countries. The inability to adequately accommodate public interest issues in the international investment law has unduly constrained the host countries’ sovereign right to regulate investments in public interests and pursue their public policy objectives.