The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa

Dominic Npoanlari Dagbanja is a Senior Lecturer (International Investment Law) at The University of Western Australia Law School; Research Fellow, African Procurement Law Unit, Department of Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and Associate Director of Community Engagement of UWA Africa Research and Engagement Centre. He was an Investment Policy Consultant to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Postdoctoral Research Associate at The University of Manchester Law School and Lecturer in Law at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. Dominic Npoanlari Dagbanja has published extensively in International Investment Law and Public Procurement Law and Policy in reputable peer-reviewed international law journals including: African Journal of International and Comparative Law, Cambridge Law Review, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, Public Procurement Law Review, Transnational Corporations and Transnational Legal Theory.

The question of how constitutional, human rights and environmental law limit government powers to conclude investment agreements, provide legal and economic privileges to foreign investors, and limit regulatory freedoms and duties has remained under-researched, notably outside Europe. This book enriches the investment law literature by comparative studies of the constitutional and human rights obligations of African countries and of their frequent neglect in investment treaties, adjudication and arbitration practices. It raises a host of new legal, policy and research questions that will become increasingly important for economic, environmental and 'survival governance' in times of health pandemics, climate and technological changes and related economic and human rights crises.