International Business Law: Trade and Investment

The globalization of the economy creates untold opportunities but also creates interdependencies that can be destabilizing and exploitative. Firms, governments and international organisations try to ride the wild horse of globalization and maximise the benefits for themselves, their clients and their populations.

Yet increasingly they have to be aware of the risks and responsibilities that are attached. If businesses and investors are associated with environmental damage, human rights violations, or labour exploitation this creates liability risks, but also commercial ones. A firm that cannot show it is having a positive impact on the world risks losing customers and employees, and looking dangerously out-of-date.

On the government side, regulators and international organisations which create the law of trade and investment find that their legitimacy is constantly under challenge. They too need to find a way to link prosperity to societal and environmental progress, and build this into the law. In the world of global trade today there are few certainties, and the firm or organization that thinks it can ignore current global crises is doomed to fail and die.