Includes bibliographical references and index.

The liberal case for arbitration -- Constitutionalizing the right to arbitration -- Boundaries and constraints -- Arbitration and the law-making process -- The special case of international commercial arbitration -- The rise of investment treaty arbitration -- Privileging foreign investors? The equality challenge -- Adjudicative coherence and democratic checks on arbitral jurisprudence -- Investment treaty arbitration, regional integration, and fragmentation of international law -- The arbitral foundations of international adjudication -- The virtues and limitations of state-to-state arbitration.

"Arbitration is an important institution that allows parties to resolve disputes without going to court. The parties to a contract, for example, may stipulate that any future controversy will be resolved by arbitrators. This stipulation is common when private actors engage in international legal transactions. Many countries in the world, moreover, have entered into international agreements enabling foreign investors to initiate arbitral proceedings against the host state. Also in the international arena, states have traditionally brought their differences to arbitral tribunals for an effective settlement. In spite of the relevance of arbitration, most constitutional scholars have neglected it. They have tended to treat arbitration as a marginal institution in the grand scheme of things constitutional. Experts in arbitration, in turn, have failed to link their analyses to a broader constitutional discourse. The ambition of this book is to establish bridges between these two epistemic communities. Constitutional theory can shed interesting light on arbitration. We live in a constitutional age, and Constitutions have an enormous impact on the structure and evolution of legal systems"--