The purpose and aim of this study is to offer a hitherto lacking perspective on the Sulu Archipelago’s history during the early years of American colonial rule – that of the native Sulu Sultan. Existing research, albeit new, tends to favour a U.S centred view. With concurrences as a theoretical framework and a theoretical understanding of the social and political power dynamics in the Sultanate, this study aims to challenge that perspective by examining the last Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram II’s agency and room for manoeuvre in relation to the bilateral Kiram-Bates treaty between the Sultanate of Sulu in the southern Philippines and the United States, represented by Colonel John C. Bates. Through a qualitative analysis of letters, official documents and a memoire originating from, or regarding, the time period, this study indicates that the Sultan’s agency and room for manoeuvre in relation to the Kiram-Bates treaty has been overlooked by scholars, and his position somewhat poorly understood. The Sultan did not simply sign the treaty according to American wishes. He negotiated terms, and influenced the outcome of above all the signing, and he at least reacted to and navigated the abrogation of the agreement in a way that has not been sufficiently described before. These findings prompt further research from a concurrences perspective to more thoroughly understand the history, and perhaps even the contemporary state, of the Sulu Archipelago and the Sulu Sultanate.

Le droit des investissements internationaux et l'Union européenne constituent deux systèmes juridiques qui sont désormais en interaction. La convergence de ces systèmes a été révélée lors de l'entrée en vigueur du Traité de Lisbonne, qui a initié un transfert de compétence en matière d'Investissement Direct Étranger et accorde donc la compétence à l'Union européenne pour conclure de nouveaux accords d'investissement. Dans le cadre d'un chapitre préliminaire, l'analyse tente tout d'abord d'expliquer pourquoi et en quoi le droit des investissements internationaux, tel que résultant de la pratique conventionnelle bilatérale des États membres, et l'Union européenne constituent deux systèmes juridiques en interaction. La méthodologie juridique nécessaire à l'étude des manifestations de la mondialisation juridique est quant à elle décrite. Par la suite, en distinguant les aspects matériels des aspects procéduraux du droit des investissements internationaux, cette thèse s'intéresse aux évolutions des rapports de ces deux systèmes et aux résultats des interactions normatives en cours. La première partie vise à démontrer que le droit matériel des investissements internationaux a fait l’objet d’une approche de la Commission européenne, mise en place dès les années 1990. Quant au droit procédural des investissements internationaux, il ressort que ses liens avec l'Union européenne ont été plus distendus et qu'il n'a fait l’objet que d'un volet qui a été attaché à l’approche européenne du droit matériel des investissements internationaux, à partir de l'entrée en vigueur du Traité de Lisbonne.Sur ces fondements, l'analyse met en exergue le processus d’européanisation en cours du droit des investissements internationaux, qui est relatif au mode de création de la norme internationale, à son contenu et à la participation de l’Union européenne à la procédure de règlement des différends, en vertu d’une procédure arbitrale devant être construite selon la configuration investisseur tiers-Union européenne. / International investment law and the European Union constitute two legal systems that are from now on in interaction. The convergence of these systems has been revealed by the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which has initiated a transfer of competence in the field of Foreign Direct Investment and thus grants competence to the European Union for the conclusion of new investment treaties. Within the framework of a preliminary chapter, the analysis first attempts to explain why and how international investment law, as it results from the bilateral conventional practice of Member States, and the European Union constitute two interacting legal systems. The legal methodology that is necessary for the study of the manifestations of legal globalisation is described. Subsequently, by distinguishing between the substantive and the procedural aspects of International Investment Law, this thesis focuses on the evolutions of the relations between these two systems and on the results of the ongoing normative interactions. The first part aims to demonstrate that substantial international investment law has been the object of an approach from the European Commission, put in place as soon as the 1990s. As for procedural international investment law, it appears that its links with the European Union have been more tenuous and that it has only been the object of a component which has been attached to the European approach of material international investment law, as soon as the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. On these foundations, the analysis highlights the ongoing Europeanisation process of International Investment Law, which is related to the mode of creation of the international standard, its content and the participation of the European Union in the procedure of dispute resolution, by virtue of an arbitral procedure which should be constructed according to the foreign investor-European Union configuration.