Bounded Rationality and Economic Diplomacy: The Politics of Investment Treaties in Developing Countries. By Lauge N. Skovgaard Poulsen

Abstract

One long-standing justification proffered by scholars in support of international investment treaties is that such treaties facilitate flows of foreign direct investment into developing countries, and thus foster economic growth in the global South. Yet, with the exception of some notable contributions, much of the existing literature on investment treaty law has avoided real engagement with developing countries’ perspectives on the investment treaty regime. Although more recent studies have offered conceptual and normative analysis of an uneasy relationship between investment treaty law and developing countries, such scholarship does not always go far enough to provide empirically grounded insights into the real experiences of developing countries. Lauge Poulsen’s tremendously timely and long-awaited book examines, with the aid...