Investment liberalization and economic development: The role of bilateral investment treaties

This Article analyzes the role of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) in promoting the tu,in goals of liberalization and development. The Author discusses the extent to which BITs contribute to the creation of a liberal investment regime and the place of BITs in economic development. Though liberalization may not be essential to economic development, states seeking to develop economically may have little alternative as a practical matter other than to embrace the kinds of policies that a BIT requires. The article then examines the question of whether such policies should be codified in a BIT. The Author concludes that the stabilization promised by the BIT is at the very core of genuine liberalization. Developing states that resist long-term commitments to liberalization such as those embodied in the BITs may find that they are not on a liberal path at all.