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sovereignty | democracy

India has been short-changed by Vodafone and Cairn arbitral awards
27-Apr-2021 The Leaflet
The international economic law regime has stripped India of over $3.8 billion in taxes due by Vodafone and Cairn Energy, as the country is battling the Covid19 crisis.
Trade agreements like NAFTA are a menace to democracy
5-Mar-2021 Jacobin
Free-trade agreements enable companies to sue governments if they interfere with profit-making activities, no matter how destructive. These trade deals put us in an antidemocratic straitjacket — it’s time we got rid of them.
Brexit talks are as transparent as the muddy tunnel they’re held in
27-Nov-2020 Open Democracy
In whose interests is the UK government negotiating post-Brexit trade deals? They would rather you didn’t know.
Government ordered to reveal more secrets about post-Brexit trade talks
15-Sep-2020 Huffington Post
Campaigners had challenged the Department for International Trade (DIT) over its "hostile approach to freedom of information law".
US seeking control over UK’s trade sovereignty
11-May-2020 CGTN
Any potential trade deal will be more about what the US can take from Britain’s markets rather than what it will give, with big pushes to open up agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors to American businesses.
We need to talk about valuation in ISDS
2-Apr-2020 Verfassungsblog
Investors are receiving monetary damages that they would not be entitled to outside of ISDS, on the basis of an unjustified and highly reductive understanding of value.
Epidemic sovereignty? Contesting investment treaty claims arising from coronavirus measures
2-Apr-2020 EJIL:Talk!
Allegedly arbitrary or disproportionate measures, albeit in the public interest, provide regular grist for the mill of investment treaty arbitration.
Why don’t we just… end the secrecy surrounding trade talks?
3-Mar-2020 Big Issue North
As it leaves the EU, Britain is taking a far more secretive approach to the many trade talks it is holding. Neither the public – nor even our MPs – are allowed to know what’s happening in those negotiations.
CETA puts pressure on precautionary principle, glyphosate implicated
6-Feb-2020 Arc2020
The changes joint committees are allowed to make to the CETA-text are in effect very far-reaching and at the same time binding, so they take up the role of legislator.
Neoliberalism and the end of politics
6-Jan-2020 Counter Punch
Understanding power is more important to predicting the winners and losers of neoliberal economic policies than knowing the economics.
Why don’t we just… wake up to the threat of ISDS?
2-Jan-2020 Big Issue North
Commercial ISDS adjudications trump democratically established laws and controls.
How consultative has India’s RCEP strategy really been?
19-Aug-2019 The Wire
There is little doubt that the smaller stakeholders and businesses within India’s informal economy have the most to lose, and yet their voices are not being heard.
EU drive for trade liberalisation adds to tensions in Tunisia
17-Apr-2019 Social Europe
The European Union’s disproportionate pressure for trade liberalisation risks exacerbating political strains in the last democracy of northern Africa.
Maldives ruling party pledges probe into Chinese deals after landslide win
10-Apr-2019 South China Morning Post
Maldives former president Mohamed Nasheed, whose party won a landslide in the archipelago’s parliamentary election, on Tuesday pledged to conduct a thorough probe into deals with China.
Myitsone dam is now a sovereignty issue
4-Apr-2019 The Irrawaddy
Public opposition to the controversial Myitsone Dam project is gaining momentum ahead of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s upcoming visit to China.
Saving Japan’s seed heritage from “free trade”
7-Mar-2019 Local Futures
Former Japanese minister Yamada joined forces with 150 lawyers that have challenged as unconstitutional both the TPP agreement and the government’s decision to abolish the seed protection law.
Revealed: How dark money is winning ‘the Brexit influencing game’
23-Feb-2019 Open Democracy
Documents show the “unfettered” access to ministers and senior politicians enjoyed by secretive think tanks that are “marching the country” to a no-deal Brexit and radical free-trade deals.
Liam Fox rushing through Brexit trade deals would mean bypassing democracy
13-Feb-2019 Huffington Post
Although they will affect huge areas of society, many of these ’rollover’ deals would pass through parliament without any debate or vote.
Want to sue Venezuela for millions? These firms can help, for a price
21-Dec-2018 Reuters
Investment funds backing a slew of big-dollar corporate lawsuits has boomed over the past decade, fueled by favorable court rulings and investors seeking juicy returns.
Keynote address by George Kahale, III
6-Nov-2018 Curtis
Combined with the dispute settlement mechanism of international arbitration, investment treaties have been transformed intol "weapons of legal destruction."