Economic Sovereignty and International Investment Arbitration in the Era of Sanctions: Trends and Challenges of a Multipolar Legal Order

The article analyses the relationship between a State’s economic sovereignty and the mechanisms of international investment arbitration under the pressure of sanctions and in the context of an evolving multipolar legal order. It outlines doctrinal approaches to sovereign economic prerogatives and explains the role of public interests as a legal basis for State regulatory measures affecting investment relations. Particular attention is paid to legal risks arising from an intensified regulatory posture, including disputes over the qualification of certain measures as indirect expropriation and the resulting increase in investment-related controversies. The study emphasises legal certainty, non-discrimination, and due process safeguards as key conditions for reconciling a host State’s regulatory space with investors’ legitimate expectations of legal protection. It concludes by identifying the need for more coherent doctrinal and normative guidelines capable of maintaining the stability of the investment regime while preserving the State’s capacity to protect economic security and other public policy objectives.