Few international legal fields have seen an increase in literature over the past decade as steep as international investment
law. This reflects the growing interest in practice and academia in what is probably not only the most dynamic area of international
law but also one with significant impact on domestic law and policy-making. What is striking, apart from the sheer enormity
of writing, however, is the changes the discourse on international investment law has undergone. Focus, topics, conceptual
and methodological approaches, authorship, and audiences of the present literature differ significantly from that of the turn
of the millennium. This reflects both an evolution in the law itself and changes in the professional, political, and institutional
practices and communities involved. The literature on international investment law thus is a reflection of the sociological
dimension of a discipline that until recently was the province of a small group of specialists and now is rapidly moving mainstream.