The Investment Treaty Regime

Abstract

AbstractThe investment treaty regime is one of the most potent, and controversial, corners of international economic governance. Yet, until recently International Political Economy (IPE) literature on the regime was focused mostly on a few narrow questions, such as whether investment treaties impact the flow of foreign direct investment. Contributions were also hampered by very poor data and sometimes lacking attention to how international investment law actually works and the way in which governments and other actors have engaged with the regime in practice. This chapter outlines some of the big and important questions facing the regime and how empirical and normative IPE scholars can address them.