Against the background of global economics and law, the Western Balkans stands out as a region of profound transformation and potential. The dissolution of Yugoslavia set the stage for a complex journey towards market-based economies, a path marked by political and industrial reforms that have re-shaped the region’s economic landscape. Yet despite these advances, the Western Balkans’ foreign direct investment (FDI) has trailed behind its Central and Eastern European neighbors, often channeled into service sectors with limited industrial spillover.
“Investment Protection and Investor-State Dispute Resolution in the Western Balkans: Regional Prospects for a European Future” fills an important void in our understanding the dynamics that have shaped FDI trends in the region. Its specific contribution is a dissection of the legal and institutional frameworks that underpin investment protection and dispute resolution, and the role they serve in attracting and retaining foreign investment. Drawing on insights from government officials, legal experts, practitioners, academics, and representatives from international organizations, the book provides unparalleled insights into the region’s complex investment and dispute settlement architecture, with chapters focused both on specific cross-cutting topics and on individual countries in the region.
Within the country-specific chapters, readers will find a detailed examination of each Western Balkans economy, their legal systems, FDI trends, treaty practices, empirical data on investment dispute resolution cases, and related policy reforms. Cross-cutting chapters discuss the importance of regional approaches to investment policy reform, bilateral investment treaty protections and model provisions, and modernization attempts, including implications of EU accession on investment policies and treaties.
The institution that I represent—the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)—serves an important role in this space. Established in 1966 by the Executive Directors of the World Bank Group, ICSID is the only organization that is specifically dedicated to the resolution of international investment disputes to promote foreign investment. As my colleague Frauke Nitschke explains in her contribution to the book, countries of the Western Balkans have accounted for a relatively small portion of ICSID’s overall caseload (about 4% at the time of publication). These cases have nonetheless played an important role in the evolution of ICSID caselaw. Furthermore, as members of ICSID, the states of the Western Balkans have contributed to the governance of ICSID. For that I am grateful, and ICSID stands ready to support the region in its continued economic development.