Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 06/2014

Which host country government actors are most involved in disputes with foreign investors?

Jeremy Caddel, Nathan M. Jensen

March 2014

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Abstract

Foreign direct investors increasingly use investment dispute-settlement mechanisms to resolve investment disputes and reduce political risk. Using data from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the major forum of international investment arbitration, we cataloged the government actors involved in disputes and the actions that led to arbitration. Existing case-based studies of investment arbitration have provided general inferences about the actors involved, but we contribute to the literature in political science and economics by systematically documenting these patterns of behavior.