Competition and Cooperation in International Commercial Arbitration: The Birth of a Transnational Legal Profession

Abstract

This paper revisits the sociology of international commercial arbitration on the basis of unexploited archives and data. This material casts new light on the competition between “grand old men” and “young technocrats” in the 1980s and 1990s, a theme that has structured the analysis of international commercial arbitration since the pioneering work of Yves Dezalay and Bryant G. Garth (Dealing in Virtue). In contrast, the data show that the crucial transformative period actually took place between the 1950s and 1970s, when a relatively well‐defined group of individuals emerged as the leading arbitrators at the International Chamber of Commerce. These individuals— the “secant marginals”—succeeded in constructing a cooperative interface (rather than competition) between otherwise separate legal systems and professions. In doing so, they created the conditions necessary for the emergence of a new transnational legal profession. At a more general level, the article proposes an alternative narrative of globalization, wherein actors operating at the intersection of various systems, create new arenas of governance on the basis of inter‐system cooperation.

How Migrations Affect Private Orders: Norms and Practices in the Fishery of Marseille

“…In Table 1 below, I have coded for the mode of interaction between incumbents and challengers (collaborative or adversarial) and the outcome of their interactions for each of the cases reported in the literature. A collaborative interaction is one where actors build a political coalition and combine resources within a field or across fields (Fligstein and McAdam 2012: 15; Grisel 2017). Competition unfolds when social actors vie for power and legitimacy in a win‐lose perspective (Fligstein and McAdam 2012: 14; Grisel 2017).…”

“…A collaborative interaction is one where actors build a political coalition and combine resources within a field or across fields (Fligstein and McAdam 2012: 15; Grisel 2017). Competition unfolds when social actors vie for power and legitimacy in a win‐lose perspective (Fligstein and McAdam 2012: 14; Grisel 2017). The various outcomes reported in the literature can be categorized as follows: assimilation, collaboration, visibility, polarization, and rejection.…”

Global Governance in a World of Change

“…45 Two such agreements were negotiated under the auspices of the Economic Committee of the League of Nations in 1923 and 1927, perhaps "the foremost original contribution of the League to international legislation." 46 Several important economies, including the United States, were 42 Sgard 2016, 172. 43 Grisel 2017, 801. 44 Nussbaum 1942 Sgard 2016, 156.…”

Elites in transnational policy networks

“…Most recently, field-theoretic scholars have started paying attention to 'transnational power elites' that have created some autonomy from national states through meta-institutions such as the European Union Madsen 2013, 2014), as well as organization beyond the control of the state such as international commercial arbitration (Grisel 2017). The fields approach also prompts us to study the role of 'symbolic violence' in enforcing the unequal distribution of resources at the transnational level, such as through imperial institutions (Go 2008) and international and supranational organizations (Adler-Nissen 2014).…”