Comparing WTO Panelists and ICSID Arbitrators: The Creation of International Legal Fields

Fontoura Costa, Jose Augusto

Abstract

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Comparing WTO Panelists and ICSID Arbitrators: The Creation of International Legal Fields

Jose Augusto Fontoura Costa

University of São Paulo

May 5, 2011

Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2011

Abstract:
Who are people who make the decisions in trade and investment dispute settlement systems? In order to describe and analyze investment arbitrators and trade panelists, the whole populations of people nominated to ICSID’s tribunals and committees as well as to WTO Panels from 1995 to 2009 were studied, considering their specialization in law, and their career backgrounds as public servants, academics or private professionals. Applying Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of legal fields, the data suggested that both systems produce legitimacy but in quite different ways and, interestingly, that the one more similar to domestic legal systems takes that form due to political forces, not by an incremental process powered by people with legal backgrounds.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 24

Keywords: International legal fields, investment arbitration, dispute settlement systems

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Date posted: May 18, 2011 ; Last revised: June 18, 2011

Suggested Citation

Fontoura Costa, Jose Augusto, Comparing WTO Panelists and ICSID Arbitrators: The Creation of International Legal Fields (May 5, 2011). Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 1, No. 4, 2011. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1832382

Contact Information

Jose Augusto Fontoura Costa (Contact Author)

University of São Paulo ( email )

Lgo. S. Francisco, n. 95
São Paulo, 01402000