International Investment for Sustainable Development: Balancing Rights and Rewards »

Lyuba Zarsky is Director of The Nautilus Institute in California and a leading researcher and advocate on trade and human rights issues.

* Exposes the flaws in the current international investment regime
* Essential reading for policy-makers and others engaged in debates concerning international trade, foreign investment and sustainable development
* Charts a course for new international investment rules that benefit the common good and provide rewards for all

This book critically examines the interface between sustainability, development, and the governance of international investment. In doing so it challenges the orthodox view that foreign direct investment (FDI) is the ‘miracle drug’ for development in poor countries, and it exposes serious shortcomings in the current international investment regime, which expands the rights of transnational corporations (TNCs) without commensurate rewards for the common good.

Among the issues probed are the relationship between FDI and sustainable development in developing countries and the structure and scope of the emerging international investment regime along with the underlying problems it poses for achieving global sustainability and equity. Ultimately the contributors map out a new way forward, towards the creation and implementation of international investment rules that will promote global sustainability, equity and rewards for all.

Introduction; PART I: LINKS BETWEEN FDI, DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY: No Miracle Drug: Foreign Direct Investment and Sustainable Development; FDI and the Environment: What Does Recent Evidence Tell Us?; Governing FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa Sustainable Development Policies and FDI: The Emerging Paradigm in Asia; PART II: THE GOVERNANCE OF INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT: All Roads Lead Out of Rome: Divergent Paths of Dispute Settlement in Bilateral Investment Treaties; The Road to Hell; Investor Protections in NAFTA’s Chapter 11; The Environment and the Principle of Non-discrimination in Investment Regimes: International and Domestic Institutions; Corporate Governance and Global Disclosure: Let the Sun Shine In; Bibliography; Index.