The first chapter presents the central puzzle in the emerging jurisprudence about government pension benefits that this book seeks to solve. It explains how public sector pensions face persistent demographic upheaval and financial fragility amid a turbulent political context. With limited choices in how to shore up failing pension plans, state and local governments have been enacting legislation to trim pension benefits. Current and former government employees have challenged such reforms in state and federal courts across the United States. Focusing on the extent that pension benefits are contractual obligations protected under state and U.S. Contract Clauses as well as state Pension Clauses, this book furnishes a timely analytical lens for comprehending these contemporary constitutional controversies.

The argument in this chapter is that although US fishery regulation eventually bolstered stocks, the regulatory process was complex and slow, driven by costly rent-seeking. Economic theory had long described solutions to open-access fisheries. Templates existed for application of tradable use rights and potentially for user determination of annual harvest caps. Nevertheless, traditional prescriptive controls, even under regional councils, were maintained for twenty years before use rights as individual tradable quotas were adopted. Those use rights were influenced by rent-seeking objectives that limited access and alienability. These are examples of restricting entry and raising rivals’ costs.

The chapter examines the operation of cloud technologies within the system of international investment law. It analyses the operation of cloud technologies themselves within the system of international investment law and the interaction between the regulation of cloud technologies and international investment protective standards. The common element in each analysis is the existence, inexistence, and eventually forceful existence of territorial nexus between the ‘cloud’ and the national jurisdictions. Amidst the increased regulatory interference, the chapter focuses on localization requirements and forced localizations as a medium through which fundamental territorial and extra-territorial implications of international investment law are assessed. In essence, it constitutes a crash test on the capacity of existing international investment norms to protect and regulate assets and investments that are inherently detached from traditional views of territorial jurisdiction or tangible property rights.

The fourth chapter provides an examination of substantive canons that judges use to interpret government pension legislation under the Contract Clause. It concentrates on three clashing canons routinely employed in pension law: the remedial (purpose) canon, the “no contract” canon (otherwise known as the unmistakability doctrine), and the constitutional avoidance canon. Courts are at a crossroads in selecting among these dueling canons to determine public pension contractual obligations. This canon warfare is often outcome-determinative, insofar as it normally answers the question of whether there is a contract. Capturing conflicting interpretative strategies allows for an in-depth exploration of the policies in pension reform litigation and develops a better appreciation of the responsibilities of courts, legislatures, and society. The investigation also fosters an informed dialogue over the choice of canons and the circumstances of their operation in the ongoing legal battles about restructuring pension obligations.

This Chapter conceptualizes security exceptions under international trade and investment agreements. In particular, it seeks to construct the chain that links trade and security-related issues arising from the application of security measures by clarifying the concept of national security to be used for the book, revisiting the current role of international organizations in balancing free trade and national security, ie the UN and the WTO, and finally contemplating the decision to incorporate security exceptions into international economic agreements or the decision to adopt security measures through the lenses of economic contract theory, the theories of international relations, such as realism, institutionalism, and constructivism, and the concept of securitization.

Net-zero energy transition requires a paradigm shift that entails multiple and simultaneous transitions of different sociotechnical systems and swift, radical, and active pushes by many key societal actors. Commitments to net-zero emissions have reinforced the momentum for climate action and widened the inclusion of sectors involved. In particular, the financial sector is expected to reinforce the momentum by changing portfolios, institutions and business models. Against this backdrop, this book tackles multiple transitions in finance and energy systems to explore how such transitions might overcome coal lock-ins. This chapter elaborates on how finance and energy sectors have responded to commitments to net-zero emissions within and across sectors and have been pressured to undergo system transformation. The chapters presents an overview of the opportunities and risks of two bridging technologies – natural gas and transition finance – and raises the book’s two research questions: why the Paris–Glasgow financial regime for financing net zero has been slow in progress, and why highly coal-dependent small EMDEs are attracted to the shift to natural-gas-based electricity systems instead of those based on renewable energy sources. The chapter’s conclusion presents the structure of the book, abstracts of the chapters, and scholarly contributions.

China’s notion of cyber sovereignty reflects an assertive extension of state authority into the digital realm. Rooted in principles of territorial jurisdiction, national security, and technological independence, this framework is embodied in key legislation. These laws impose rigorous compliance obligations on foreign and domestic businesses, particularly those operating critical information infrastructure. While these measures reinforce China’s digital autonomy, they pose significant challenges for foreign investors navigating this intricate regulatory landscape. This chapter critically examines how China’s cyber sovereignty aligns with its international investment obligations, focusing on three core principles: protection against expropriation, national treatment, and fair and equitable treatment (FET). It explores whether the stringent requirements and lack of effective remedies breach these standards, highlighting potential areas of discord with China’s investment treaties. Furthermore, it evaluates the limitations of security and general exception clauses in justifying these regulatory measures under international law. The findings suggest that China’s cyber sovereignty framework, while advancing its domestic security and technological goals, may conflict with its international investment commitments. As more nations adopt similar regulatory stances, this trend could signal a shift toward a fragmented global ICT market, reshaping the dynamics of international economic governance.

Alongside global climate financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), global net-zero finance initiatives such as the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) and the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) were launched. These mechanisms aim to mobilise private financing for early retirements of fossil fuel facilities in emerging markets and in developing economies that rely heavily on fossil fuels. However, few studies have assessed them from the perspective of equity, justice, and transformative changes. This chapter fills the gap by investigating how effectively these financial mechanisms have worked for net-zero transitions. Our findings reveal that while the mandates and requirements direct ETM and JETP for early retirement of coal power, compensation, and institutional development, few programmes have been specified for disbursement. Long procedures and institutional reform requirements delay disbursements, challenging private financing and scaling. This contrasts with GCF, which focuses on energy access and renewable energy but accelerates disbursement. Transparent collaborations between developed countries, private investors, host country governments, and electric companies are suggested for ETM and JETP to make financing net-zero transitions work effectively.

This Chapter outlines the national legal frameworks for applying security measures by the US, the EU, and BRICS in order to understand the level of securitization of their policy objectives. It focuses on the measures that are or can be applied by the US, the EU, and BRICS in pursuit of their national (regional) security interests and, thus, potentially subjected to security exceptions under international law. Specifically, this Chapter discusses the practice of application of economic sanctions and investment screening mechanisms in those jurisdictions.

The third chapter details the development of Contract Clause doctrine throughout the United States. It surveys ten years of litigation in state and federal courts, organizing the decisions by the type of reform and their resolution. Challenged reform measures include increasing employee contribution rates, reducing or freezing cost of living allowances, eliminating pension spiking, changing benefit formulas and actuarial factors, redefining the earnable compensation criterion, imposing partial forfeiture of benefits upon conviction, and reducing or eliminating health care benefits. Adding an inclusive account of current court practice to the existing literature, the analysis tests the boundaries of government power to modify pension plans within multiple legal systems. Tracking cases across jurisdictions affords a unique window into contract principles and their application. Judicial lawmaking is not orderly. Decisional rules often lack the philosophical foundation necessary to achieve their purposes or accommodate existing social objectives. The relevant authorities are set out in an accessible way that makes sense of a rapidly developing area of law. Moreover, because most cases turn on the creation of a contractual obligation—an issue that is judicially determined—it provides context for an intensive evidentiary exploration of the contract criterion in subsequent chapters.

The sixth chapter explores changing contract coverage. Decisions determining the validity of public pension reforms under state and U.S. Contract Clauses depend on the contract condition. Over time, it might be expected that repeat resolutions would yield clarity and consistency on one or more contractual issues. But judicial opinions have proven far from predictable. The uncertainty is no doubt complicated by the fact that determinations about contracts cut across state courts and state laws. To help unify the field, this chapter maps pension contract along various criteria and uses California’s influential and controversial government pension law as a framework to evaluate conflicting approaches.

The eighth chapter concludes that synthesizing recent judicial opinions spanning the United States promotes public pension reform. A qualitative inquiry provides a fresh vantage point to guide policymakers and better enable informed decisions in the ongoing debate over retirement. Streamlining a complex array of constitutional contract issues in the context of pension reform litigation also supports legal practice by widening the perspective of judges, as well as the lawyers who argue before them. It similarly influences the theory of constitutional law protecting public pensions contracts by reflecting on their conceptual structure, doctrinal expression, and normative underpinnings. Ultimately, this book aims to enrich our larger social understanding of what the Contract Clause means, and thereby what retirement security signifies, in an ongoing age of austerity.

The first chapter places Coase, Pigou, and the US environmental policies examined in the volume in the broader context of the literature on the economics of institutional change. This academic research provides background for Coase and suggests the tradeoffs that emerge when decentralized approaches to economic problems are displaced by those of centralized regulation.

This Chapter, the final chapter, concludes and discusses the future directions of the research on security exceptions. It examines the evolving role of security exceptions in international economic law, particularly within the WTO framework. While traditionally viewed as shields for states to implement necessary security measures, these exceptions increasingly serve as tools for economic protectionism and geopolitical leverage. The Chapter explores the complexities of balancing trade commitments with national security concerns, highlighting inconsistencies in adjudication and the risks of opportunistic state behavior. It proposes a dual framework distinguishing between conventional and novel security measures, advocating for clearer rules, procedural safeguards, and a compensation mechanism to deter abuse. Additionally, it calls for WTO reforms, stronger cooperation with the UN, and revisions to regional trade agreements and investment treaties to ensure security measures remain transparent, time-bound, and economically efficient.