International Arbitration

This chapter examines some of the methodological elements of feminist approaches to international law to rethink international arbitration. The central focus of a feminist prism appears to be whether international arbitration is subjugated by patriarchal domination structures, bias and injustice, thus mirroring and even reinforcing the idiosyncrasies of international law, especially international economic law. Probably, one could answer yes to all these questions, and this is essentially why the legitimacy of international arbitration is so much at stake. However, the absence of such a dispute settlement system would not necessarily lead to a better situation for international economic regulation: if international law did not regulate resources at all, the international order would be that much more unjust. A feminist deconstruction shows the need for clear, transparent, and well-balanced rules and dispute settlement resolution systems, and not their absence. This direction is the one progressively taken by projects of reform.