Diversification of investment agreements and factors for their conclusion

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03580
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: International relations
• Research Institution: Tokyo Woman's Christian University (2018-2021); The University of Tokyo (2017)
• Principal Investigator: NISHIMURA Momoko 東京女子大学, 現代教養学部, 講師 (00784448)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 投資協定 / 国際政治経済 / 直接投資

Outline of Final Research Achievements

As the international movement of capital and global direct investment has dramatically increased since the 1990s, more international investment agreements have been concluded. However, in the 2000s, the number of newly concluded investment agreements declined and there has been a significant change in the stipulations in investment agreements. A conventional investment agreement contains provisions to protect investors and their properties from arbitrary policies by the recipient country and provisions to remove entry barriers for foreign investment. Recently, more countries are endeavoring to include provisions that strengthen the government’s regulatory competencies over foreign investment in the investment agreement. This study examines the current investment agreements which contain a mixture of provisions to promote investment liberalization and to strengthen the government’s regulatory competencies, so that we can identify the factors that determine their provisions.

Free Research Field

国際関係論、国際政治経済

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

国際資本移動が活発になり世界全体の直接投資が急増するにつれて、外国資本が各国のにもたらす影響の大きさが問題視されるようになっている。したがって、この分野を規律する唯一の国際制度である投資協定がどのように制定されているのかを分析することは重要である。また、投資協定の制定に向けて、近年、各国の政府、企業、環境団体、労働組合などさまざまなアクターが政治過程に参加しており、その過程を分析することは直接投資に関する各国の対外政策の決定要因を調べる上で非常に有用である。