A Brief History of International Investment Agreements
![handle is hein.journals/ucdl12 and id is 163 raw text is: A BRIEF HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT
AGREEMENTS
Kenneth J. Vandevelde*
I. T H E C O LONIAL E RA .................................................................... 158
II. THE POST-COLONIAL ERA .......................................................... 161
III. TH E G LOBAL E RA ........................................................................ 175
IV . LOOKING FORW ARD .................................................................... 184
V . C O N CLU SIO N ................................................................................. 193
One of the most remarkable phenomena in international law
during the past fifteen years has been the extraordinary increase in the
number of agreements concluded relating to the protection or
liberalization of foreign investment. More than 2500 such agreements
now exist, with the great majority having been concluded since 1990.1
This number includes almost 2400 bilateral investment treaties (BITs)
as well as more than 200 trade agreements that contain investment
provisions.2
Although the number of agreements has accelerated remarkably
After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1979 and practicing law for three
years with the Washington, D.C., firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman,
Professor Vandevelde joined the Office of the Legal Adviser at the Department of
State. His responsibilities there included negotiating bilateral investment treaties and
representing the United States before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal and the
International Court of Justice. In 1989, he was appointed to the faculty of Whittier Law
School. In 1991, he joined the faculty of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where he
was appointed Associate Dean in 1992 and served as Dean from 1994 to 2005. In 1992,
he published United States Investment Agreements: Policy and Practice. Since that
time. he has served as a consultant on international law to the governments of
Lithuania, the Republic of Georgia and Slovakia, the United Nations, and the U.S.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has published widely on the subject of
international investment agreements and has lectured on the subject in Asia, Africa,
Europe, South America and the Caribbean.
I UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT [UNCTAD],
Research Note: Recent Developments in International Investment Agreements, 2,
UNCTAD/WEB/ITEIIT2005/1 (Aug. 30, 2005), available at http://www.unctad.org/
sections/dite-dir/docs//webiteiit2005l-en.pdf.
2 According to UNCTAD, 2392 BITs had been concluded as of the end of 2004,
while 209 trade agreements with investment provisions had been concluded as of that
date. Id. at 1, 10.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ucdl12&div=12&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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A Brief History of International Investment Agreements
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