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Introduction—Legal Protection Offered to Foreign Investment in Latin America: Context and General Trends

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International Investment Law and Arbitration from a Latin American Perspective

Part of the book series: International Law and the Global South ((ILGS))

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Abstract

This chapter presents a general historical and political-economy portrait of the legal protection that has been offered to foreign investment in Latin America, particularly through of the systematic conclusion of international investment agreements (hereafter IIAs) by the countries of the region. This picture aims to illustrate the factors and circumstances under which said safeguarding has entered into tension with the protection of public interests within the realm of investor-state arbitration (hereafter ISA).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For the purposes of this chapter, the term “international investment agreements” encompasses both bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements that include specific investment chapters.

  2. 2.

    The project of modernity is supposed to represent rationalism, technocentrism, the standardization of knowledge and production, a belief in linear progress and in universal, absolute truths. See Meiksins (1997), pp. 539–560.

  3. 3.

    See generally Simon (2021).

  4. 4.

    See generally Anghie (2012); Tzouvala (2021).

  5. 5.

    The concept “international community” is here used to resemble the set of political entities with sovereign characteristics that, under the aspiration of identifying and managing common interests, conduct practices and conclude agreements to guarantee the stable accomplishment of such shared position.

  6. 6.

    See generally Galtung (1969), pp. 167–191.

  7. 7.

    Violence is directly connected with inequality insofar it builds into the structure and shows up as unequal power and consequently as unequal life chances.

  8. 8.

    A salient outcome of this phenomenon was the success of a revolutionary movement in Mexico that advance on the nationalization of key industries such as petroleum, land, and the railroads, thus affecting foreign interests that had been placed all over the Region. See Meyer (2010).

  9. 9.

    United Nations, Concepts of Inequality Development Strategy and Policy Analysis Unit w Development Policy and Analysis Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2015), https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_dev_issues/dsp_policy_01.pdf (last visited Jun 16, 2021).

  10. 10.

    Adams (2003); Busso and Messina (2020), https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/The-Inequality-Crisis-Latin-America-and-the-Caribbean-at-the-Crossroads.pdf (last visited Jun 16, 2021).

  11. 11.

    See generally Rodrick (1999), pp. 385–412; Berg (2011).

  12. 12.

    See De Ferranti (2004).

  13. 13.

    See Said (1994).

  14. 14.

    See generally Hobson (1975). (Originally published by James Pott and Co., at New York, in 1902).

  15. 15.

    See Bulmer-Thomas (1994).

  16. 16.

    See Anghie (2012).

  17. 17.

    See Lorca (2010), p. 515.

  18. 18.

    See Walker (1957), pp. 805–824.

  19. 19.

    Ibídem.

  20. 20.

    See Miles (2013).

  21. 21.

    ibidem.

  22. 22.

    See Sornarajah (2021).

  23. 23.

    See Borchard (1940), p. 445.

  24. 24.

    See Sornarajah (2021).

  25. 25.

    See Anghie (2004).

  26. 26.

    See Miles (2013).

  27. 27.

    See John Dugard, Diplomatic protection Oxford Public International Law, https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e1028 (last visited Aug 19, 2021).

  28. 28.

    See Olarte-Bácares (2015).

  29. 29.

    See Miles (2013).

  30. 30.

    Carlos Calvo, Derecho internacional teórico y práctico de Europa y América, vol. I, Paris, D’Amyot, Durand y Pedone-Lauriel, y Carlos Calvo, Derecho internacional teórico y práctico de Europa y América, vol. II, Paris, D’Amyot, Durand y Pedone-Lauriel, 1868.

  31. 31.

    See Olarte-Bácares (2015).

  32. 32.

    See Anghie (2012).

  33. 33.

    García-Amador (1958), p. 60.

  34. 34.

    Charter of the Organization of American States (1951), art. 2b and 16.

  35. 35.

    See Miles (2013).

  36. 36.

    See Sornarajah (2021).

  37. 37.

    See Miles (2013).

  38. 38.

    Scott (2000).

  39. 39.

    See Gold (1984), pp. 799–852.

  40. 40.

    See Studies in International and Comparative Law (2021). Perrone (2021).

  41. 41.

    ibidem.

  42. 42.

    See Bielschowsky (2009).

  43. 43.

    See Perrone (2021).

  44. 44.

    See Bulmer-Thomas (1994).

  45. 45.

    Ecuador with Germany (1965) and Switzerland (1968); Costa Rica with Switzerland (1965); El Salvador with France (1978); Panama with Switzerland (1983).

  46. 46.

    As Sornarajah stresses out, although they started to be negotiated as early as 1959, there was a massive proliferation of bilateral investment treaties in the 1990s. See Sornarajah (2021).

  47. 47.

    Williamson (2004), pp. 195–206; Ocampo (2004), pp. 293–314.

  48. 48.

    On the global governance role of the Bretton Woods institutions, see generally Stone and Wright (2007); Gigli (1997), pp. 1–27.

  49. 49.

    See Bajpai (1990), pp. 791–794.

  50. 50.

    For instance, see OECD Report presented at the Council meeting at Ministerial level which took place in May 1995 (DAFFE/CMIT/CIME (95)13/FINAL, 5 May 1995). Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/daf/mai/htm/cmitcime95.htm.

  51. 51.

    Sovereignty (12), public order (10), and regulatory power (6), for a total of 28 references.

  52. 52.

    Fiscal and financial sustainability (56), and monetary policy (37), for a total of 93 references.

  53. 53.

    Environment (33), natural resources (33), water (22), territorial planning (2), and social function of property (1), for a total of 91 references.

  54. 54.

    Human rights (30), vital minimum (7), food sovereignty and security (6), social security (4), prior consultation (4), cultural and/or archeological heritage (3), and public health (1), for a total of 55 references.

  55. 55.

    Provision of public services (42), Justice (30), national industry (29), free competition (23), public procurement (21).

  56. 56.

    For the purposes of this chapter, the term “international investment agreements” encompasses both bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements that include specific investment chapters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    Marco A. Velasquez-Ruiz, Carolina Olarte-Bácares & Ana María Aranda Castillo

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  1. Marco A. Velasquez-Ruiz
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  2. Carolina Olarte-Bácares
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  3. Ana María Aranda Castillo
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Correspondence to Marco A. Velasquez-Ruiz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Centre of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil

    Nitish Monebhurrun

  2. University of Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    Carolina Olarte-Bácares

  3. University of Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    Marco A. Velásquez-Ruiz

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Velasquez-Ruiz, M.A., Olarte-Bácares, C., Castillo, A.M.A. (2024). Introduction—Legal Protection Offered to Foreign Investment in Latin America: Context and General Trends. In: Monebhurrun, N., Olarte-Bácares, C., Velásquez-Ruiz, M.A. (eds) International Investment Law and Arbitration from a Latin American Perspective. International Law and the Global South. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49382-9_1

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