NGOs, business, and international investment: The multilateral agreement on investment, seattle, and beyond

Global Governance

Volumn 7, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 51-73

  Walter, Andrew ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0035530463     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-00701006     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. See Ernest Preeg, Traders and Diplomats (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1970); Gilbert R. Winham, International Trade and the Tokyo Round Negotiation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).
2. See Ernest Preeg, Traders and Diplomats (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1970); Gilbert R. Winham, International Trade and the Tokyo Round Negotiation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).
3. GATT was far from uncontroversial in developing countries but, in these years, negotiations were dominated by the United States and Western Europe.
4. I use the term commercial diplomacy in a general sense to include traditional "trade" negotiations as well as negotiations concerning investment and other mutual market access-related areas.
5. Multinational corporations and transnational business lobbies are in a general sense NGOs as much as Oxfam or Greenpeace. However, for simplicity I adopt the popular convention of using NGO to refer only to nonbusiness advocacy groups.
6. See, for example, the dozens of messages to this effect circulated in the months before and after the Seattle meeting on the MAI-NOT website archive: http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/mai-not (27 March 2000).
7. Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, eds., Transnational Relations and World Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971); Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); Richard J. Barnet and Ronald E. Müller, Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974); Robert Mansbach, Yale Ferguson, and Donald Lampert, The Web of World Politics: Non-State Actors in the Global System (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1976).
8. Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, eds., Transnational Relations and World Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971); Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); Richard J. Barnet and Ronald E. Müller, Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974); Robert Mansbach, Yale Ferguson, and Donald Lampert, The Web of World Politics: Non-State Actors in the Global System (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1976).
9. Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, eds., Transnational Relations and World Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971); Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); Richard J. Barnet and Ronald E. Müller, Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974); Robert Mansbach, Yale Ferguson, and Donald Lampert, The Web of World Politics: Non-State Actors in the Global System (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1976).
10. Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, eds., Transnational Relations and World Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971); Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); Richard J. Barnet and Ronald E. Müller, Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974); Robert Mansbach, Yale Ferguson, and Donald Lampert, The Web of World Politics: Non-State Actors in the Global System (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1976).
11. For example, Kenichi Ohmae, The End of the Nation State (New York: Free Press, 1995). For an overview of the debate, see David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt, and Jonathan Perraton, Global Transformations (Cambridge, England: Polity, 1999); and T. Risse-Kappan, ed., Bringing Transnational Relations Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
12. For example, Kenichi Ohmae, The End of the Nation State (New York: Free Press, 1995). For an overview of the debate, see David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt, and Jonathan Perraton, Global Transformations (Cambridge, England: Polity, 1999); and T. Risse-Kappan, ed., Bringing Transnational Relations Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
13. For example, Kenichi Ohmae, The End of the Nation State (New York: Free Press, 1995). For an overview of the debate, see David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt, and Jonathan Perraton, Global Transformations (Cambridge, England: Polity, 1999); and T. Risse-Kappan, ed., Bringing Transnational Relations Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
14. David M. Andrews, "Capital Mobility and State Autonomy: Toward a Structural Theory of International Monetary Relations," International Studies Quarterly 38 (1994): 193-218; Philip G. Cerny, "Globalization and the Changing Logic of Collective Action," International Organization 49, no. 4 (autumn 1995): 595-625; Susan George, "State Sovereignty Under Threat," Le Monde Diplomatique (July 1999), online at http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/ 1999/07 (27 March 2000); David Korten, When Corporations Rule the World (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1995).
15. David M. Andrews, "Capital Mobility and State Autonomy: Toward a Structural Theory of International Monetary Relations," International Studies Quarterly 38 (1994): 193-218; Philip G. Cerny, "Globalization and the Changing Logic of Collective Action," International Organization 49, no. 4 (autumn 1995): 595-625; Susan George, "State Sovereignty Under Threat," Le Monde Diplomatique (July 1999), online at http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/ 1999/07 (27 March 2000); David Korten, When Corporations Rule the World (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1995).
16. David M. Andrews, "Capital Mobility and State Autonomy: Toward a Structural Theory of International Monetary Relations," International Studies Quarterly 38 (1994): 193-218; Philip G. Cerny, "Globalization and the Changing Logic of Collective Action," International Organization 49, no. 4 (autumn 1995): 595-625; Susan George, "State Sovereignty Under Threat," Le Monde Diplomatique (July 1999), online at http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/ 1999/07 (27 March 2000); David Korten, When Corporations Rule the World (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1995).
17. David M. Andrews, "Capital Mobility and State Autonomy: Toward a Structural Theory of International Monetary Relations," International Studies Quarterly 38 (1994): 193-218; Philip G. Cerny, "Globalization and the Changing Logic of Collective Action," International Organization 49, no. 4 (autumn 1995): 595-625; Susan George, "State Sovereignty Under Threat," Le Monde Diplomatique (July 1999), online at http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/ 1999/07 (27 March 2000); David Korten, When Corporations Rule the World (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1995).
18. Bernard Hoekman and Michel Kosteki, The Political Economy of the World Trading System (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 66-68; Paul Krugman, "What Should Trade Negotiators Negotiate About?" review essay, 1997, online at http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/.
19. Bernard Hoekman and Michel Kosteki, The Political Economy of the World Trading System (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 66-68; Paul Krugman, "What Should Trade Negotiators Negotiate About?" review essay, 1997, online at http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/.
20. Possible partial exceptions to this generalization were the small "corporatist" social democracies of Scandinavia and Central Europe, where the involvement of labor in economic policymaking became more entrenched than elsewhere. See Peter J. Katzenstein, Small States in World Markets (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985).
21. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, "Industry Sector and Functional Advisory Committees for Trade Policy Matters: Request for Nominations," Federal Register 64, no. 42 (4 March 1999): 10448-10449, fr04mr99-40.
22. I. M. Destler, American Trade Politics, 2d ed. (Washington, D.C., and New York: Institute for International Economics and Twentieth Century Fund, 1992), p. 192; Helen V. Milner, Interests, Institutions, and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 206-214.
23. I. M. Destler, American Trade Politics, 2d ed. (Washington, D.C., and New York: Institute for International Economics and Twentieth Century Fund, 1992), p. 192; Helen V. Milner, Interests, Institutions, and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 206-214.
24. For a useful catalogue of corporate lobbies in Europe, see the Corporate European Observatory, online at http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/ (27 March 2000).
25. A sectoral example is British Invisibles, which has pushed for financial services liberalization in the United Kingdom, and transnationally through its membership of the transatlantic Financial Leaders Group, which was influential in the WTO Financial Services Agreement of 1997.
26. Helen V. Milner, Interests, Institutions, and Information, p. 206.
27. UN, World Investment Report, 1996: Investment, Trade and International Policy Arrangements (New York and Geneva: UN, 1996), pp. 4-5.
28. Andrew Walter, "Globalization and Policy Convergence: The Case of Direct Investment Rules," in R. Higgott and A. Beiler, eds., Non-State Actors in the Global Economy (London: Routledge, 1999).
29. U.S. State Department interview, Washington, D.C., 18 June 1996.
30. This (and much of the following) is derived from interviews with industry organizations and officials in Washington, D.C., June-July 1996.
31. USCIB interview, Washington, D.C., 6 June 1996. See also Edwin D. Williamson, vice-chairman of the Committee on Multinational Enterprises and International Investment of the U.S. Council for International Business, testimony before the House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade, 5 March 1998.
32. Todd Malan, OFII, interviewed by the author, Washington, D.C., 24 June 1996.
33. USTR, ACTPN Discussion Draft on Investment, September 1996, mimeo.
34. Jan Huner, Dutch representative at the OECD, speech to Chatham House Conference on Trade, Investment and the Environment, London, 29 October 1998, published on Public Citizen's MAI-NOT listserve on 3 November 1998.
35. U.S. State Department interview, Washington, D.C., 18 June 1996, U.K. Confederation of British Industry interview, December 1999.
36. Senior investment negotiator, USTR, interviewed by the author, Washington, D.C., 25 July 1996.
37. Interview, USTR, Washington, D.C., 25 July 1996.
38. See UNCTAD, Bilateral Investment Treaties in the Mid-1990s (New York: United Nations, 1998).
39. OECD communiqué, meeting of the Council at Ministerial Level, Paris, 21-22 May 1996, p. 1.
40. Tony Sims, U.K. MAI delegation, Department of Trade and Industry (U.K.), remarks at a conference on the MAI, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, 22 November 1997.
41. See David Henderson, The MAI Affair: A Story and Its Lessons, Pelham Paper No. 5 (Melbourne: Melbourne Business School, 1999); Stephen J. Kobrin, "The MAI and the Clash of Globalizations," Foreign Policy 112 (fall 1998): 97-109.
42. See David Henderson, The MAI Affair: A Story and Its Lessons, Pelham Paper No. 5 (Melbourne: Melbourne Business School, 1999); Stephen J. Kobrin, "The MAI and the Clash of Globalizations," Foreign Policy 112 (fall 1998): 97-109.
43. Andrea Durbin, "Transnational Bill of Rights: Negotiations for a Mul-tilateral Agreement on Investment," Tools for Change Newsletter 1, no. 2 (summer 1997): 1.
44. Friends of the Earth, letter to USTR ambassador Charlene Barshevsky on the MAI, 13 February 1997.
45. R. C. Longworth, "Activists on Internet Reshaping Rules for Global Economy," Chicago Tribune, 5 July 1999, p. 9.
46. "Network Guerillas," Financial Times, 30 March 1998, p. 20.
47. See the report of the Western Governors' Association, "Multilateral Agreement on Investment: Potential Effects on State and Local Government" (1997), online at http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/97010.htm (27 March 2000).
48. See, for example, the debates on the MAI in the U.K. House of Commons, Hansard, 23 July 1997, c. 865-885, and the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 25 September 1997, H.7873-7879. See also the very critical Report on the MAI presented to the European Parliament (the Lalumière report), September 1998.
49. See, for example, the debates on the MAI in the U.K. House of Commons, Hansard, 23 July 1997, c. 865-885, and the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 25 September 1997, H.7873-7879. See also the very critical Report on the MAI presented to the European Parliament (the Lalumière report), September 1998.
50. See, for example, the debates on the MAI in the U.K. House of Commons, Hansard, 23 July 1997, c. 865-885, and the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 25 September 1997, H.7873-7879. See also the very critical Report on the MAI presented to the European Parliament (the Lalumière report), September 1998.
51. Abraham Katz, president of USCIB, letter to Ambassador Jeffrey Lang, deputy of USTR, 11 July 1997. See also Williamson, note 20.
52. Katz, ibid.
53. Letter from Kozo Uchida, director general of Keidanren, to Abraham Katz, 29 July 1997, and letter from Tom Drucker, chairman of the Committee on Multinational Enterprise and Investment, Canadian Council for International Business, to William Dymond (Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs), 5 December 1996.
54. OECD negotiator, interviewed by the author, London, 22 November 1997.
55. Under-Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstadt and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Lang, Statement on the MAI, 17 February 1998, mimeo.
56. John Maggs, "OECD Advisory Panel Slams Proposed Investment Treaty," Journal of Commerce, 16 January 1998, p. 1.
57. Jan Huner, speech, 1998.
58. "States' Rights," The Economist, 25 March 2000, p. 62.
59. Interviews, U.K. business lobbies and U.K. Department of Trade and Industry, December 1999.
60. Ibid.
61. Interviews, U.K. Department of Trade and Industry, December 1999.
62. Interviews, U.K. business lobbies, December 1999.
63. Discussion with senior EU negotiator, 23 September 1999, London.
64. See the various new initiatives posted on the WTO website, "WTO and NGOs," online at http://www.wto.org/wto/ngo/intro.htm. The democrati-zation of the WTO receives most attention in the articles by P. J. Simmons, "Learning to Live with NGOs," Foreign Policy 112 (fall 1998): 82-96, and Kobrin, "The MAI and the Clash of Globalizations." Simmons notes (p. 94) that greater openness to NGOs would also be consistent with the intentions of the framers of the charter of the International Trade Organization of the late 1940s.
65. See the various new initiatives posted on the WTO website, "WTO and NGOs," online at http://www.wto.org/wto/ngo/intro.htm. The democrati-zation of the WTO receives most attention in the articles by P. J. Simmons, "Learning to Live with NGOs," Foreign Policy 112 (fall 1998): 82-96, and Kobrin, "The MAI and the Clash of Globalizations." Simmons notes (p. 94) that greater openness to NGOs would also be consistent with the intentions of the framers of the charter of the International Trade Organization of the late 1940s.
66. See the various new initiatives posted on the WTO website, "WTO and NGOs," online at http://www.wto.org/wto/ngo/intro.htm. The democrati-zation of the WTO receives most attention in the articles by P. J. Simmons, "Learning to Live with NGOs," Foreign Policy 112 (fall 1998): 82-96, and Kobrin, "The MAI and the Clash of Globalizations." Simmons notes (p. 94) that greater openness to NGOs would also be consistent with the intentions of the framers of the charter of the International Trade Organization of the late 1940s.
67. Kobrin, "The MAI and the Clash of Globalizations," p. 106.
68. "Uncivil Society," Financial Times, 1 September 1999, p. 18; Henderson, The MAI Affair: A Story and Its Lessons.
69. "Uncivil Society," Financial Times, 1 September 1999, p. 18; Henderson, The MAI Affair: A Story and Its Lessons.
70. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, "Industry Sector Advisory Committees (ISACs) 10 and 12 for Trade Policy Matters: Request for Nominations," Federal Register 62, no. 250 (30 December 1999): 73518-73519, fr30de99-54.