Thread by @jbentonheath

A continuation of my thread on investment and national security. I’m so enthusiastic about this topic I couldn’t fit it all in a single thread, it seems. …

https://twitter.com/jbentonheath/status/1372235279411650565

I left off with the US-Peru FTA and its self-judging security footnote. That one is interesting, because 2 years later China concluded a PTA with Peru, and flipped the script, making a non-self-judging footnote. It’s interesting to speculate as to why. 26/

The 2015 India Model BIT is fascinating because it combines elements of all the models. There’s self-judging language, alongside a GATT-style list of security concerns, with some new additions (“critical infrastructure”). There’s even a GATS-style reporting obligation. But… 27/

The BIT also has an annex stating that the exception is non-justiciable. I emphasized at the close of my lecture that this is a different model of lawmaking: the specificity is meant to stabilize expectations, despite the lack of access to dispute settlement. Will it work? 28/

All of the above was in the background lecture. We spent classtime on four student presentations, delving into aspects of security, investment, and dispute settlement. 29/