International Investment Treaties and the Promise of Good Governance: Norm and Institutional Design, Internalisation, and Domestic Rule-Making

Abstract

This paper forms part of the author‘s ongoing project which examines the role of international investment law in fostering good governance and rule of law at a national level. Can investment treaty remedies induce governments into compliance with the rule of law and good governance standards? What role does international investment law play in generating national law? To what extent and how do investment treaty norms influence government decision-making in host states? Just as is the case with economic development, which has long been regarded as one of the primary objectives of IIAs, it is little contested among both proponents and critics of the investment treaty regime that fostering good governance (and the rule of law) is a desirable end. However, what remains under-explored is the capacity of international investment rules to bring about change in domestic governance institutions and practices. This paper questions the good governance narratives in the investment treaty context from conceptual, doctrinal and empirical angles. The aim is to introduce the key strands of the argument developed in the project and to discuss some of the preliminary findings stemming from empirical case-studies and interviews conducted to date.