What prevents the signatories of the TPP or TTIP, and their ilk, from just saying no when the investor-state dispute settlement provisions don’t go the way they’d want? That is, if the state still has a monopoly on the use of force, can’t they just kill the investors?
Or, to put it another way, isn’t binding arbitration only binding if one feels bound by it?
Take some time to read this overview of the system [full series] from Buzzfeed for more detail.