as a popular alternative to the court system.

Mandatory arbitration was pushed as a way to reduce costs of lawsuits. Arbitration, often unilateral and mandatory as a condition of entering into a contract between buyer-sellor was promoted as a protective shield for corporations.

The influence that has had on business law by the turn of the 21st century is summarized below in the comments of Judge WIlliam G. Young. In those comments from a dozen years ago you hear echoes of the current concerns about ISDS, that come from Elizabeth Warren who has a background and interest in consumer protection.





Resolution of disputes outside of the courts is financially quite beneficial to corporations and the reality is money is why corporations exist. Not surprisingly, as the free trade agreements are basically contractual business arrangements between nations, this same concept has been being pushed into trade agreements. It's just taken a long time for a significant fraction of the public to become aware of this during a time when the abusive practices of business make them available for criticism.