Redefining Investment Contracts: Multinational Joint Ventures, Arbitration Risks, and Global Geopolitical Fragmentation
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Abstract
Global geopolitical fragmentation has fundamentally disrupted international investment law. Consequently, multinational enterprises increasingly utilize joint ventures as jurisdictional firewalls to mitigate stringent host state regulations. This article examines the mutation of joint ventures into defensive legal fictions designed to shield corporate liability while exploiting arbitration protections. Through doctrinal analysis of contemporary jurisprudence, particularly the Urbaser decision, this study demonstrates how host state counterclaims pierce the corporate veil, enforcing human rights accountability. Furthermore, this research critically evaluates the boundaries delineating legitimate nationality planning from prohibited abuse of process, highlighting systemic anomalies surrounding shareholder reflective loss claims. These findings reveal an urgent necessity for structural procedural reforms. Ultimately, this paper proposes the mandatory consolidation of entity liability as an absolute jurisdictional prerequisite within international tribunals. This proposed framework effectively establishes a just equilibrium between safeguarding foreign capital investments and preserving the sovereign regulatory space of developing host nations across the entire globe.
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