State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) within International Law's Public-Private Divide

The economic importance of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) has increased significantly in recent years. Their cross-border reach and formidable economic power in turn raises various questions regarding how such enterprises should be regulated at the international level. Yet at the same time, much (if not most) of international law is predicated on the division between the public and private spheres; and State-owned enterprises straddle precisely this divide, making them difficult to fit into existing international legal categories and regulate. This dual character is further amplified when SOEs include other shareholders (as is often the case), or where the State is in fact a minority shareholder. Given such challenges, the project will analyse the position of SOEs in international law, including their international legal personality, their position as claimants and respondents in international (investment) disputes, the status of their assets under immunity of State property rules, their relationship with the State in terms of attribution of conduct (i.e. when they may be regarded as acting on behalf of the State), international trade and domestic subsidies, their potential responsibility for human rights violations, etc. I also plan to include a case study on sovereign wealth funds, which will have particular relevance for Norway through its Government Pension Fund. At the same time, SOEs and their position in international law have rarely featured in international legal scholarship, which all too often focuses on inter-State relationships and, more recently, on relationships between States and individuals (human rights law) or private companies (investment law). In order to make my application as strong as possible, I would like to hire two/three research assistants with experience in international law as well as law and (political) economics.