The impact of investment treaties on domestic governance in developing countries
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6090248 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jonathan Bonnitcha (0000-0002-1149-6983, Law Building University of New South Wales Kensington NSW Australia), Zoe Phillips Williams (0000-0001-9669-2731, San Francisco Bay Area United States of America) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 140-169 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Law & Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0265-8240 • E-ISSN: 1467-9930 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/lapo.12234 |
| OpenAlex | W4390582292 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 54 |
This paper empirically examines the impact of investment treaties on domestic governance in developing countries, through cross‐country quantitative analysis and a detailed qualitative case‐study on Myanmar. We clarify a variety of mechanisms that plausibly link investment treaties to impacts on domestic governance. Considering incentive, acculturative and political economy mechanisms, we find little evidence that the treaties lead to changes in domestic law, institutional structure or policy‐making. The treaties also have surprisingly limited relevance in investor‐state bargaining outside formal adjudicatory processes. Overall, our findings point to a profound decoupling between investment treaties and domestic governance; they also clarify the conditions under which such decoupling can persist, notwithstanding material incentives for states to ensure tighter alignment. Rather than interpreting decoupling as a failure of domestic implementation, our case study suggests that the problem is with the treaties themselves, in that they place obligations on developing countries that cannot realistically be implemented
Business · Corporate governance · Decoupling (probability · Developing country · Economic growth · Economics · Foreign direct investment · Incentive · International economics · Investment (military · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Public economics · International Arbitration and Investment Law · International Development and Aid · Law · State Capitalism and Financial Governance · Finance
Transnational Legal Orders
Bounded Rationality and Economic Diplomacy
V-Dem Codebook v11
Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law
The Limits of International Law
Socializing States
Decolonising International Law
Asymmetric diffusion
The Impact of Investment Treaty Law on Host States
International Arbitration and Judicial Politics in Authoritarian States
Path Dependence, Development, and the Dynamics of Institutional Reform
Protection of Private Foreign Investment
Neorealism and its critics
When the Claim Hits
Beyond Credible Commitments
The Chilling Effect of International Investment Disputes
International Norm Dynamics and Political Change
Investment treaties and national governance in India
Hegemonic Battles, Professional Rivalries, and the International Division of Labor in the Market for the Import and Export of State-Governing Expertise
World Society and the Nation-State
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |