The World Bank and the Creation of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes: Legality and Legitimacy

This chapter is not intended to challenge the legitimacy of the role played by the World Bank in the establishment of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (icsid). Instead, the purpose is to identify and look into the key legality and legitimacy concerns about icsid’s establishment from an international law perspective, taking into consideration the evolving legality and legitimacy discourses over the last decades. In particular, it examines the features and background of icsid’s creation, the role of the World Bank therein, the legal basis of such a role under international institutional law and the law of treaties, and the procedures employed by the World Bank in its formulation of the icsid Convention. This chapter sheds some light on how similar initiatives of international organizations may be undertaken to comply with legality and legitimacy requirements, in order to better recommend themselves