This work consists of a collection of essays, edited by Professor Chin Leng Lim, written against the global public backlash against investor–State arbitration (ISA), to mark the occasion of Professor Sornarajah's formal retirement from the National University of Singapore. The work contains 16 chapters, divided into seven parts, contributed by 17 authors. Each part is intended to ‘serve as a useful critical introduction to the field [of international investment law] at the present time and to mirror Sornarajah's own concerns’ (35). The work is aimed at ‘students and scholars, government international law counsel and policy-makers, private legal counsel and arbitrators alike’ (xvi).

Part I begins with an introductory article by Professor Lim which commences with a short biographical section before moving on to an overview of Sornarajah's works. This dense analysis, in the space of 15 pages, of scholarly writings spanning some 25 years, sets out not only the contents of that writing but also its theoretical underpinnings and is a careful introduction to Sornarajah's scholarship which is not only unsentimental in acknowledging his critics but at the same time also evidently filled with admiration. The next essay in Part I, by Kenneth Vandevelde, sets out the liberal vision of the international law on foreign investment, showing how the Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) of today have their origin in the post-war Friendship, Commerce and Navigation treaties of the United States. The part then continues with a lengthy essay by Leon Trakman and David Musayelyan which attempts to take stock of the current landscape of investor–State arbitration (ISA), concluding that ‘the movement against ISA has subsided’ and that ‘there is very limited movement in favour of abolishing ISA as a whole’ (99).

Part II sets out the case for reform of or withdrawal from the system, beginning with an essay by Gus Van Harten in which he rehearses the by now familiar arguments as to the deficiencies in the current system of ISA as well as criticisms of the European Commission's reform proposals set out in its public consultation document of 2014. David Schneiderman then takes up this baton and looks at the debate in light of the trenchant utterances against critics of the system by ‘investment law's norm entrepreneurs’, coming to the conclusion that ‘investment law's norm entrepreneurs are manning the barricades not of civilisation but of a power over which they are in fear of losing’ (155). There follows an analysis by Peter Muchlinski of the investor–State dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Common Investment Area Agreement (CCIA). Muchlinski demonstrates how the CCIA goes further than many other Investment agreements in balancing investor obligations and host country obligations, and suggests that it ‘offers a great deal of food for thought about the further evolution of ISDS issues in future generations of international investment agreements (IIAs)’ (185). The part concludes with a chapter by Karl Sauvant on lessons to be learned from the failed negotiations on the United Nations Code of Conduct on Transnational Corporations.

Part III concerns itself respectively with India and China, both being countries historically eager to preserve their regulatory space. Wenhua Shan and Hongrui Chen argue that China is now well placed to formulate its own China-specific model BIT and perceive a move in the direction of ‘China BIT 4.0’ which takes account of China's role as both a capital-importing and a capital-exporting State.

These three parts are described by the editor as dealing with the politics, economics and sociology of the law (444) and are stated to be the first tranche of the book. The second tranche, comprising the subsequent parts, is described as dealing with practical legal and doctrinal issues.

Part IV thus commences with an analysis of the legacy of the Methanex decision. Kyla Tienhaara and Todd Tucker review arbitral decisions and subsequent treaty practice to arrive at the determination that ‘while the tribunal's decision on expropriation was not insignificant, it also did not inspire a new pattern of decision-making among arbitrators’ and that ‘for their part States … have been more influenced by US and Canadian practice in drafting safeguards than by the reasoning in Methanex’, concluding finally that ‘a systematic reshaping of investment treaty arbitration is far more important than the introduction of “safeguards”’. Chapter 11, by Howard Mann, takes aim at the ‘new frontier’—described as being ‘the economic rights of foreign investors versus government policy space for economic development’. Mr Mann considers market access rights which are traded off against government policy space which seeks to ensure broader economic development benefits from foreign direct investment (FDI). He ends his analysis with the leading question: ‘Is Professor Sornarajah right that, now more than ever, international investment treaties have become the international economic law support to the law of greed over the law of need?’ (323) Finally, in this part, Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder looks at fair and equitable treatment (FET) and minimum standards of treatment (MST) clauses. Following a review of various arbitral decisions her diagnosis is that States have not succeeded in limiting arbitral discretion in the interpretation and application of such clauses and that the only way in which this will be done is if States move away ‘from the concepts developed by tribunals to date’ (45) such as legitimate expectations.

Part V consists of two essays on umbrella clauses, and investigates the debate surrounding the notion of the internationalization of State contracts. Professor Lim focuses on the nature of umbrella clauses, arguing against the view that the whole underlying contract would, necessarily, become internationalized. He argues that often they are no more or less than an unobjectionable treaty provision which has the effect that ‘breaches of some contractual commitments should be treated as breaches of the overlying BIT’ (375). Jean Ho on the other hand tackles the issue of internationalization head on concluding that internationalization is incompatible with ‘recent developments in the law of State responsibility on contractual breaches’ (401).

Part VI contains a stand-alone essay on the soft-law regulation of sovereign wealth funds, arguing that this is a more appropriate method than hard-law regulation so long as it is inclusive in its formulation. Finally, in Part VII, Professor Lim pens a concluding chapter in which he describes Professor Sornarajah's latest work and ideas, and further explores the doctrinal and ideological platforms on which it is built. His ultimate conclusion is quite simply that the pendulum of change—of which Sornarajah was so keenly aware—keeps swinging.

I would recommend this work to any one interested in investment treaty arbitration and in particular the arguments surrounding the current backlash to the system as it is presently constituted and operates. Although the arguments and information presented are not novel, it is an excellent work of synthesis, drawing together a disparate body of persons and giving their writings a common theme, within the framework of Professor Sornarajah's extensive scholarship. Whilst each essay can be read discretely on its own, this is not to say that the work lacks internal coherence: the various strands of thought and argument contained within it are logically presented according to the divisions identified earlier. Each essay is also written in a clear style and is well structured, setting out at the beginning what its subject matter is and invariably containing a concluding section which summarizes its contents.

Professor Lim is to be applauded on having marshalled such an eminent and diverse group of individuals to contribute to what was plainly a ‘passion-project’ for him. In the preface to the work he states that Professor Sornarajah danced ‘to the beat of a different drummer … This book is an attempt to recreate the drumbeats he heard, reveal the subject he sees, and show the paths to which his drums lead.’ (xvi). The attempt has, in this reviewer's opinion, been a success and the reader of the book will—even if he has never read any of Sornarajah's works—come away with a profound understanding of the individual and of his scholarship as well as a deeper appreciation of the current polarized debate surrounding ISDS’ efficacy.