Lunch seminar with Lauge Poulsen
Compensation, Economic Hostages, and Market Access: Lump Sum Agreements since Westphalia
Abstract
Lump sum agreements have been signed since the 17th century up until today and were the most important international law instrument used to settle international claims during the 20th century. The agreements have contributed to customary international law on matters such as attribution of state conduct and the nature of compensable claims, and yet while some are well-known and documented the broader phenomenon has been subject to hardly systematic scrutiny. This paper seeks to remedy this gap based on a compilation of almost 400 lump sum agreements from Westphalia until today. This is considerably more than reported in earlier work. In addition to a fuller historical account of this central piece of international claims infrastructure, I provide a general, but simple, framework to understand why, and how, the agreements were negotiated as alternatives to adjudication through the release of economic hostages and the provision of side-payments.
Speaker Bio
Lauge Poulsen is Professor of International Relations & Law, UCL and Chair of Climate & Investment Law Programme, OECD.
Meeting ID: 660 1233 2317
Passcode: 564667