Converging Trends in Investment Treaty Practice

North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, Vol. 38, pp. 152, 2012

79 Pages Posted: 25 Sep 2011 Last revised: 18 Aug 2021

See all articles by Karen Halverson Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

University of Illinois Chicago School of Law

Date Written: March 8, 2012

Abstract

Traditionally, the vested interests of states concluding bilateral investment treaties (BITs) fell into two categories: on the side of capital-exporting states, an interest in adopting strong protections for foreign investors; on the side of capital-importing states, an interest in attracting foreign investment but also in attempting to preserve host country sovereignty and authority to promote the public interest. Over the past decade or so, however, the line between capital-exporting and capital-importing state increasingly has blurred, and the calculus for states negotiating BITs has become less certain. The experience of the US as a respondent to claims brought to arbitration by Canadian investors under Chapter 11 of NAFTA significantly affected the development of a new generation of US BITs that better balance the interests of host states against those of foreign investors. Similarly, as emerging market economies become significant exporters of capital, these countries are concluding BITs and resorting to investor-state arbitration, driven at least in part by the needs of their own foreign investors. This article examines this convergence in BIT practice. It suggests that these converging trends, a function of states operating behind what Rawls referred to as a “veil of ignorance,” are having and should continue to have a moderating influence on the content of BITs.

Suggested Citation

Cross, Karen H., Converging Trends in Investment Treaty Practice (March 8, 2012). North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation, Vol. 38, pp. 152, 2012, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1933314 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1933314

Karen H. Cross (Contact Author)

University of Illinois Chicago School of Law ( email )

300 South State Street
Chicago, IL 60604
United States
312.360.2652 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law.uic.edu/

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