Opening Pandora's Box: Sovereign Bonds in International Arbitration

American Journal of International Law, Vol. 101, pp. 711-759, 2007

49 Pages Posted: 8 Mar 2010

See all articles by Michael Waibel

Michael Waibel

University of Vienna - Faculty of Law

Date Written: September 7, 2007

Abstract

In recent years, sovereign debt crises have received much attention from the perspective of international public policy, but an effective legal solution to sovereign defaults has yet to coalesce within international law. Over the last two decades, private creditors have increasingly resorted to litigation in national courts, though without great success, in an effort to obtain payment on defaulted sovereign debt. Another, emerging option is arbitration - in particular, before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Will ICSID be the new venue of choice for recovering on sovereign bonds? The conclusion reached here is that attempts to take defaulting countries to ICSID arbitration are unlikely to succeed.

The Spanish version of this paper can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2038976

Keywords: ICSID, arbitration, Argentina, sovereign debt, sovereign default, non-payment, investment, fair and equitable treatment

JEL Classification: F34, F40, H63, K33

Suggested Citation

Waibel, Michael, Opening Pandora's Box: Sovereign Bonds in International Arbitration (September 7, 2007). American Journal of International Law, Vol. 101, pp. 711-759, 2007 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1566482

Michael Waibel (Contact Author)

University of Vienna - Faculty of Law ( email )

Schottenbastei 10-16
Vienna, A-1010
Austria

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