Diminished Ambitions? Public International Legal Authority in the Transnational Economic Era

Ambition for employing public international legal authority as a means for the protection of human health and the environment appears to be diminishing in our transnationalist economic era. Practical and political challenges in defining the complex relationships between States and transnationally active commercial interests contribute to this. Emphasis on States’ domestic regulatory autonomy within contemporary international economic law is also a significant factor. This article canvasses three areas of international law and economic activity where the phenomenon of diminished ambition is manifest: responsibility, liability, and dispute settlement. Respectively, the article looks at developments in the three fields of law of the sea, international environmental law, and dispute settlement in the World Trade Organisation and through investment treaty arbitration. The article focuses on three specific topics within these three fields: the regulation of (i) deep seabed exploitation, (ii) possible risks associated with biotechnology, and (iii) tobacco regulation and public health. The article concludes that the result of our diminished ambition is to leave important areas of transnational economic activity unregulated, and encourages reflection on this phenomenon with a view to a strengthened approach in the areas where this will matter most.