Over the course of the past 30 years, the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) has emerged as the single most important innovation in international law for the governance of foreign investment. In general, BITs are signed between a developed and developing country. Its purpose is to protect and promote foreign investment. This dissertation will explore the fundamentals of the BIT. First, I embed the BIT regime into the broader framework of international investment agreements. In doing so, it can be seen that the growth and prominence of the BIT regime is in large part due to the failure of multilateral attempts at agreement over the rules governing international investment. Second, I ask a fundamental question which missing in the literature: why do home countries sign BITs? This question enables me to explore the link between domestic politics and international phenomena. I find that interest group pressure and the partisanship of government, systematically influence the propensity of a home country to conclude a BIT. Finally, from the perspective of the developing world, I evaluate whether or not BITs do what they are intended to do - promote foreign investment? The literature on BITs and FDI has been inconclusive in this regard. I lend to the debate by suggesting that the relationship between BITs and FDI is not as direct as the literature has specified. Rather, the link is indirect. It's not the BIT, per se, which promotes FDI, but the BIT's ability to bind the host to its commitment. Some BITs are more credible commitments than others. I argue that a BIT's credibility varies in terms of the strength of the dispute settlement mechanism. Some BITs have strong mechanisms, while others have weak mechanisms. Thus, the stronger the dispute settlement mechanism, the more credible the BIT, the more foreign investment it will attract. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / May 19, 2014. / Bilateral Investment Treaties, Foreign Direct Investment, Interest Groups / Includes bibliographical references. / Dale L. Smith, Professor Directing Dissertation; Manoj Atolia, University Representative; Robert E. Crew, Committee Member; Sean Ehrlich, Committee Member; Cherie Maestas, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_254451 |
| Contributors | Kirayoglu, Suzanne (authoraut), Smith, Dale L. (professor directing dissertation), Atolia, Manoj (university representative), Crew, Robert E. (committee member), Ehrlich, Sean (committee member), Maestas, Cherie (committee member), Department of Political Science (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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