Whither security? The concept of ‘essential security interests’ in investment treaties’ security exceptions

Caroline Henckels

Journal of International Economic Law, 2024, vol. 27, issue 1, 114-129

Abstract: Unlike the WTO agreements, most investment treaties’ security exceptions do not further define the concept of ‘essential security interests’, creating significant uncertainty. Securitization theory illuminates conceptual problems associated with an expansive approach to security, security’s role in justifying extraordinary deontic powers, and securitization’s contingency on intersubjective agreement. As securitizing actors, states have put forward four paradigms of security, each significantly expanding the concept beyond its traditional contours. Investors have resisted with two counter-securitizing moves, each involving several tactics. Reacting to these moves and countermoves, tribunals have functioned as either empowering audiences or as nullifying audiences. The ambiguity of essentiality has also generated incongruent interpretations. States’, investors’, and tribunals’ approaches operate on three different planes, each with potential to significantly constrain security’s scope or even negate a successful securitization. Expansive and restrictive interpretations of security present competing implications that make defining it an invidious task, but some interpretations of essentiality are more tenable than others. Overall, tribunals’ narrow interpretations of the concept have operated to considerably limit states’ securitization attempts. While investors should keep a close eye on pending cases involving potentially self-judging security exceptions, they need not be overly concerned that security exceptions pose a significant threat to their interests.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jiel/jgae011 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jieclw:v:27:y:2024:i:1:p:114-129.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Economic Law is currently edited by Kathleen Claussen, Sergio Puig and Michael Waibel

More articles in Journal of International Economic Law from Oxford University Press Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().