We invite contributions to a blog symposium on Current Geopolitical Tensions and Investment Law and Arbitration.
From the US-China rivalry to the war in Ukraine, from attacks and sanctions against Iran to the conflict in Yemen, much of what is happening in the world plays out in investment law and arbitration. Geopolitical tensions are shaping how both states and investors behave, and how disputes are unfolding. This symposium explores how these tensions interact with investment law, their present implications, and the challenges that lie ahead. It will cover a range of issues linked to the general theme, such as critical minerals and infrastructure, armed conflict, sanctions and asset freezes and other topics. The symposium seeks to bring together different perspectives on the legal questions arising at the intersection of investment protection, national security, economic sovereignty and international cooperation.
Suggested themes
Contributions may address, among others, the following topics:
- National security and investment screening: The treatment of foreign investment in strategic sectors and critical infrastructure; the scope and reviewability of security exceptions; and the relationship between investment screening and international investment obligations.
- Sanctions: Investment-law questions arising from economic sanctions, asset freezes, restrictions on payments and trade, and responsive measures, including their implications for treaty protection and arbitral proceedings.
- Expropriation, asset seizures and sovereign assets: The legal implications of measures targeting foreign-owned assets, including the boundaries between regulation, expropriation and confiscation, and questions concerning remedies, immunity and enforcement.
- Armed conflict, occupation and disputed territories: The application of investment treaties in situations of armed conflict or territorial disputes, including questions of territorial scope, attribution, jurisdiction, compensation for losses and the relationship with international humanitarian law and the prohibition of the use of force.
- Strategic resources and the energy transition: Investment disputes involving critical minerals, energy security, supply-chain resilience and industrial policy, including tensions between investment protection and efforts to reduce strategic dependencies.
- Technology and economic security: Investment protection in relation to export controls, restrictions on technology transfers, digital infrastructure, data governance and measures affecting strategically sensitive industries.
- Access to arbitration and the conduct of proceedings: The effects of geopolitical tensions on representation, funding, payments, evidence, arbitrator appointments and procedural fairness, as well as the recognition and enforcement of awards.
- The future of investment treaties and dispute settlement: The impact of geopolitical tensions on model treaties and new investment treaties concluded between States.
These topics are illustrative, not exhaustive. We expressly welcome proposals on issues not listed above provided that they have a connection to the symposium’s overarching theme.
Submission of proposals
Blogposts that fall within the general theme should be sent to blog.youngifila@ifila.org
The deadline for submission of the blogposts is 15 November 2026.
The length of the blogposts should be 1500-2500 words and the submissions guidelines of the Young IFILA Blog must be adhered to: https://blog.ifila.org/submissions/
We welcome submissions from scholars at all career stages (including PhD and LL.M. students), practitioners and others working on questions relevant to the theme.