Unravelling the Faustian Bargain: Non-state Actors and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment

Abstract

This chapter examines the influence of non-state actors in the recent controversial and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations concerning a Multilateral Investment Agreement (MAI) at the OECD. For many, these negotiations have epitomized the growing influence of non-state actors in international affairs, and particularly of multinational business. Launched in 1995 at the behest of the US government, the quest for a liberal multilateral regime governing international investment seemed to many to reflect growing corporate power in the new global economy. In the wake of the Uruguay Round of the GATT, with its controversial agreements in areas like trade in services and TRIPS (trade-related intellectual property rights), these new negotiations reflected a new boldness of global firms. These firms, rather than governments and citizens, appeared to be directing the new agenda of global economic governance.

Thanks are due to Professor Abraham Lowenthal and the Pacific Council for International Policy, Los Angeles, and Oxford University for research support, and to Christopher Wilkie, Steve Woolcock, and the editors for comments on an earlier draft.