Attorneys David Hunt, Ben Love, Gina Rossman, and Sagar Gupta published an article in Global Arbitration Review called "Is the People’s Good the Highest Law? The Concept of Necessity in Investor-State Protections."
Examining the rising trend of states invoking alleged national security interests to justify intervening in trade and economics, this article considers the customary international law defense of necessity (the necessity defense), under which states may provide an excuse or justification for their actions on the basis that they are necessary to safeguard an essential interest. It also considers the relationship of that rule of customary international law with specific treaty provisions in investment treaties, permitting states to take measures to protect their essential security interests clauses (known as ESI clauses).