BRICS+ and the Reengineering of International Investment Law

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Gonzaga Journal of International Law

Journal Abbreviation

Gonz. J. Int’l L.

Abstract

International investment agreements (IIAs) and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) have faced sustained criticism in recent decades, leading many observers to question whether the regime has a viable future. This Essay explores the responses of the BRICS+ states to international investment law’s legitimacy crisis. It shows that, while these countries’ positions toward IIAs and ISDS vary widely, a majority continue to embrace both in modified form. In fact, it presents new empirical evidence that states within the BRICS+ orbit have played a disproportionately large role in recent treaty-making. Nearly half of all IIAs signed between 2023 and 2025 include at least one BRICS+ member as a party, and this percentage rises substantially when partner countries and prospective members are included. Moreover, most of these treaties continue to provide for ISDS. Based on this evidence, the Essay argues that most BRICS+ states are not abandoning international investment law but helping to reshape it. Even as many developed states have retreated from treaty-making, BRICS+ countries have continued to negotiate IIAs that preserve investor protections and access to investor-state arbitration, while incorporating safeguards designed to address longstanding criticisms of the regime. In doing so, they have emerged as important architects of international investment law’s next phase.

First Page

1

Last Page

28

Publication Date

2026

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