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Full-Text Articles in Law
Crisis, Continuity, And Change In International Investment Law And Arbitration, Valentina Vadi
Crisis, Continuity, And Change In International Investment Law And Arbitration, Valentina Vadi
Michigan Journal of International Law
The dialectic between continuity and change lies at the heart of international law, which seeks to foster peaceful, just, and prosperous relations among nations. International law endeavors to govern the future by applying, in the present, norms that are inherited from the past. Nonetheless, everything flows and in an ever-changing world, some change is needed within the international legal system to ensure its stability especially in time of crisis. Not only can crises constitute means for the development of international law, but they can test, undermine or ultimately buttress the structure of international law. This article explores the connection between …
Against Balancing: Revisiting The Use/Regulation Distinction To Reform Liability And Compensation Under Investment Treaties, Jonathan Bonnitcha, Emma Aisbett
Against Balancing: Revisiting The Use/Regulation Distinction To Reform Liability And Compensation Under Investment Treaties, Jonathan Bonnitcha, Emma Aisbett
Michigan Journal of International Law
Investment treaties generate mutual benefits for host states and foreign investors to the extent that they discipline opportunistic conduct by host states. Investment treaties do not necessarily generate mutual benefits insofar as they constrain states’ ability to respond to new information or to change their policy priorities. In a companion paper, we use the tools of law and economics to formalize and clarify the relationship between problems of opportunism on the one hand, and new information and shifts in policy priorities on the other. On this basis, we develop a proposal to reform the legal principles that govern liability and …
Chinese Resource-For-Infrastructure (Rfi) Investments In Sub-Saharan Africa And The Future Of The "Rules-Based" Framework For Sovereign Finance: The Sicomines Case Study, Jingwei Xu
Michigan Journal of International Law
China has emerged as sub-Saharan Africa’s largest development financier over the past two decades. While commentators have observed novel, sui generis transactional structures in China’s financing arrangements, legal analysis of those contractual forms and their relationships to incumbent international economic governance regimes remains scant. This note addresses those scholarly lacunae, taking as its case study the 2008 Sicomines Agreement—a multi-billion USD investment financing agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and various Chinese corporate entities that merges infrastructure investment with a mineral extraction joint-venture project. It demonstrates that the Sicomines Agreement selectively draws on and integrates pre-existing modes of …
Labor Rights, Globalization And Institutions: The Role And Influence Of The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, James Salzman
Labor Rights, Globalization And Institutions: The Role And Influence Of The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, James Salzman
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article has four sections. The first recounts the history of the OECD, from its creation as the overseer of the Marshall Plan to its current prominence as global economic analyst, and explains its operations. The second section explores its influence on the development of labor rights, examining the well-known OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, publications on trade and labor by the Employment, Labor and Social Affairs Directorate, and the events surrounding South Korea's accession to the OECD. Each of these activities, though quite different from one another (and, in combination, very different from the activities of other IGOs), provided …
International Investment And The Prudent Investor Rule: The Trustee's Duty To Consider International Investment Vehicles, Stephen M. Penner
International Investment And The Prudent Investor Rule: The Trustee's Duty To Consider International Investment Vehicles, Stephen M. Penner
Michigan Journal of International Law
Part I of this note will begin with a background of trust and trustees, focusing on the historical development of the trust and the present role of the trustee. Part II presents the Prudent Investor Rule. The problems in trust management which lead to the necessity of the Rule will be explored, as will the evolution of the Rule up to the recent adoption by the American Law Institute of the Third Restatement of Trusts, which is devoted solely to the Prudent Investor Rule. In Part III, the various investment opportunities available to the modern investor will be presented, first …
Incentives For Peace And Profits: Federal Legislation To Encourage U.S. Enterprises To Invest In Arab-Israeli Joint Ventures, Daniel Lubetzky
Incentives For Peace And Profits: Federal Legislation To Encourage U.S. Enterprises To Invest In Arab-Israeli Joint Ventures, Daniel Lubetzky
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article proposes a set of provisions that would encourage U.S. companies and entities to invest in joint ventures with Israeli and Arab partners in the Middle East. The immediate effect of these provisions would be to revive and fortify the economies of that region. The long-term objectives behind the enactment of such incentives would be threefold: (1) to improve the prospects for peace and stability in the Middle East; (2) to enhance the strategic and political standing of the United States in the Middle East; and (3) to increase the long-term international competitiveness of U.S. businesses.
The Feasibility Of Debt-Equity Swaps In Russia, Thomas M. Reiter
The Feasibility Of Debt-Equity Swaps In Russia, Thomas M. Reiter
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Note examines the origins, development, and mechanics of debt-equity swap programs in Latin America before discussing the various goals and policy considerations involved in formulating debt-equity swap programs. Next, the Note describes Russia's debt situation and sketches the outlines of a debt-equity swap program that will reduce Russia's foreign debt while stimulating foreign direct investment.
U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaties: The Second Wave, Kenneth J. Vandevelde
U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaties: The Second Wave, Kenneth J. Vandevelde
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article describes and appraises the second wave of negotiations. It functions as a sequel to an earlier article that described the first ten years of the program. Although the second wave of negotiations continues, and thus any conclusions about it necessarily are tentative, the second wave already has developed a variety of characteristics that distinguish it from the first wave. The goal of this Article is to identify the ways in which the second wave appears to differ from the first and to assess the significance of the differences.
Drafting Dispute Resolution Clauses For Western Investment And Joint Ventures In Eastern Europe, Mary Theresa Kaloupek
Drafting Dispute Resolution Clauses For Western Investment And Joint Ventures In Eastern Europe, Mary Theresa Kaloupek
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Note discusses issues the practitioner should consider in drafting a dispute resolution provision for a client investing in one of the newly democratizing countries. Part I will discuss arbitration law in Eastern Europe; the dispute resolution provisions in the various foreign investment laws; the applicable national law; and each nation's enforcement procedures for arbitral awards issued in other nations. Part II reviews the dispute resolution provisions in various bilateral and multilateral treaties relating to foreign investment including the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID Convention) and the informal agreements between the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the …
Unwelcome Imports: Racism, Sexism, And Foreign Investment, William H. Lash Iii
Unwelcome Imports: Racism, Sexism, And Foreign Investment, William H. Lash Iii
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article will address the problems minorities and women face from Japanese foreign direct investment. This article focuses on Japanese direct investment because the rapid rise in Japan's direct investment in the United States, combined with a record of discrimination by Japanese firms in Japan and abroad, makes Japanese investment the best example of the problems addressed in this article. However, the discriminatory attitudes described here may well be held by other foreign investors, and therefore, the legislation proposed later in this article addresses a broader problem.
Negotiating Investment In The Gatt: A Call For Functionalism, Paul Bryan Christy Iii
Negotiating Investment In The Gatt: A Call For Functionalism, Paul Bryan Christy Iii
Michigan Journal of International Law
In part, this article is about the conflict between literalism and functionalism in the GATT. It examines an attempt in the Uruguay Round to negotiate rules on foreign direct investment - the so-called trade-related investment measures (TRIMs) negotiations. Foreign direct investment is often a stage in the internationalization of enterprises; it is helpful to the trade of goods producers and necessary to the trade of many services providers. Affected by the output-oriented history of the GATT, however, the Contracting Parties have treated investment as though it were simply one of three legs of an economic triangle: goods, services, investment. In …
International Trade And Investment Regulation: Developing Jurisprudence In Taiwan, Paul S.P. Hsu
International Trade And Investment Regulation: Developing Jurisprudence In Taiwan, Paul S.P. Hsu
Michigan Journal of International Law
Past and present economic development in the Republic of China has provided a model for a successful experiment whereby a society under a workable economic and social system with very limited natural resources makes the most of what it has. Yet, the momentum of the development will not permit the R.O.C. to rest at its present stage or to reminisce about past achievements. Clearly, many more stages of economic development lie ahead. Other industrially advanced nations that operate under similar limitations, such as the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland, have higher per capita income, better quality of life, and a more …
Joint Ventures And The Law Of International Claims, Richard B. Lillich
Joint Ventures And The Law Of International Claims, Richard B. Lillich
Michigan Journal of International Law
Joint ventures are one of the most remarkable post-World War II international business developments. Although the late Professor Friedmann noted in 1971 that they were becoming "the most important form of foreign investment in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America," "only within the last two decades has the joint capital venture received more than scant attention." Now, whether one is interested in establishing a "minority joint venture," in which the foreign investor holds less than fifty percent of the equity in the joint enterprise and the host country the majority interest, or a "multipartite joint venture," in …