Corporations and international investment law in Latin America

Abstract

Chapter 7 argues that multinational corporations are the most important vehicle of global trade and international investment in today’s globalized economy, which they help shape, and that they are a central actor in the development of international investment law. The chapter describes the corporate stakeholder and its characteristics, interests, and role in the international investment law regime in Latin America. It begins by discussing the characteristics of the corporate stakeholder as a participant in the regime and the emergence of new corporate stakeholders. It argues that the corporate stakeholder and its interests are much more nuanced and diverse than the traditional conception of hostility between multinational corporations and the other systemic actors would suggest. The chapter adopts the perspective of the multinational enterprises towards international investment law and discusses whether, and if so, to what extent, corporations care about investment treaties and the availability of investor–state dispute resolution when making decisions on foreign direct investment. The author submits that corporations care generally about the protection of property rights and investment safety, which are objectives that can be secured by several means, not limited to bilateral investment treaties and investor–state dispute settlement. In the final section, the chapter discusses some of the ways in which corporations have accommodated the narratives promoted by other systemic actors and how these developments may contribute to norm creation in international investment law.