Introduction

On the first page of International Trade and Investment Law: Multilateral, Regional and Bilateral Governance (Edward Elgar, 2010), Rafael Leal-Arcas announces, "The thesis of this book is that the nature of international law is fragmented and cyclical." He proceeds to show, over the next 311 pages, just how fragmented international law (or at least the areas of international law concerning treaty-based rules for trade and investment) has become. At first blush, identification of the fragmentary nature of international trade and investment law may seem unremarkable. After ...