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The Evolution Of Concession Agreements In Underdeveloped Countries And The United States National Interest, Theodore H. Moran

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Large natural resource projects in underdeveloped countries provide great benefits to United States investors, to host countries and to the United States itself. Yet concession agreements to exploit natural resources are notoriously controversial and notoriously unstable. This article will examine the United States national interest in guaranteeing equity investments in foreign natural resource development and will argue that concession agreements in large natural resource projects in the developing world go through a highly predictable evolution, reflecting changes in the relative bargaining positions of the foreign investors and the host governments. Initial agreements reflect the foreign company's quasi-monopolistic control over the …