Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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NOTES AND COMMENTS
COMPETING REGIMES IN INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT
ARBITRATION: CHOICE BETWEEN THE ICSID AND
ALTERNATIVE ARBITRAL SYSTEMS
Katharina Diel-Gligor*
I. INTRODUCTION
In the last few decades, there has been a remarkable realignment of
international attitudes towards the concept of international investment: In the
1970s, a rather skeptical, even hostile perception dominated in the majority of
developing countries, and as a reaction, strict regimens were imposed and only
limited market access was granted to foreign investors.1 However, during the
1980s and 1990s, this antagonistic stance toward international investment was
overcome by the increasing awareness of its importance as an instrument for
furthering economic development.2 A fundamental reorientation by the capitalimporting
nations coupled with the advancing ideas of an open market economy,
the growing tendency towards privatization, and the globalization of business
have led to a remarkable increase in the quantity of and competition in
international investment.3 Within this context, Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”)
has been growing dramatically, reaching over two billion USD in the world in
2007, and has only been slowed by the impact of the financial crisis.4 Another
result of this dramatic increase is the growing number of bilateral and multilateral