Mar 28 (M): 19. International investment agreements (IIAs) and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

Objectives

To apply the core international institutionalist argument to analyze foreign investment
To identify international institutions bearing on FDI: international investment agreements (IIAs), bilateral investment treaties (BITs), and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)
To generate hypotheses about the impact of such institutions on FDI and FDI regulation outcomes
To evaluate those hypotheses using examples and evidence

Concepts

international investment agreement (IIA) and, particularly, bilateral investment treaties (BITs)
investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)

Discussion Questions

What are the dominant international institutional arrangements at work in the world of foreign investment?
What are the common key provisions of such institutions? Who behavior do they regulate, and what impact are they likely to have on state and firm outcomes?
How are these institutions designed to lower political risk, if at all? Do they do so successfully, and if so, how would we know? See the Simmons reading, especially, on this.
What other possible explanations of these arrangements can you think of? What impact do these arrangements have on economic development, the global distribution of gains from international exchange, etc.?
Do you agree with Wellhausen and Peinhardt's argument?