National security and the international regime of foreign direct investment: modern challenges and prospects

Abstract

The study focuses on current developments in the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime, with an increasingly monitored approach to understanding FDI as a threat to national security. The research methodology is based on general scientifi c approaches; methods of analysis and synthesis used, comparison. Quantitative estimates are based on statistical data from international organizations. It is shown that the number of countries at the state level resorting to the concept of national security to limit the influx of unwanted FDI is growing. It is concluded that the barriers introduced will have a negative impact on future FDI dynamics. The danger of the emergence of strange controls over outgoing FDI, which today, in addition to the United States, is actively discussed in the European Union, since extraterritorial control of a country/group of countries creates even greater uncertainty and will signifi cantly aff ect the fl ow of FDI. More and more countries are opening their states into a new national security paradigm. Overall, this trend will only increase in momentum, which means the spread of special regimes for FDI. While protecting national interests is generally the "intent of existing frameworks" of national foreign investment regimes, further securitization, and the targeting of FDI to economic categories makes harmonization of rulemaking in this area much more difficult. However, reform of the approaches set out in BITs is necessary, since "outdated" treaties do not consider many aspects related to the current technological progress agenda. In the search for a new balance between national interests and the benefits of international cooperation, both regulatory global institutions and integration associations remain important.