A critical assessment of foreign direct investment and inclusive development in the context of Sino-African relations

Man, Amy

Abstract

All States want to achieve a higher state of ‘being’ and this is particularly true of developing States. Development is often seen as the end-goal for States, which is considered to be synonymous with progress and positive change. In pursuit of this target, foreign direct investment (FDI) is used by States as a catalyst for development. However, in search for development through FDI, not all States benefit. Some States, such as China, are an attractive destination for FDI inflows and are able to use this capital to rapidly evolve. Other States, however, are unable to achieve the change that they want. The fact that not all States benefit from FDI is a conundrum and also alludes to a dissonance between FDI and development.
Despite this incongruence, FDI remains an important source of capital for developing States when domestic resources are limited or lacking. The motivation to attract FDI serves as a mantra for developing States to conclude international investment agreements (IIAs) and join the international investment law (IIL) regime. IIAs and IIL are viewed as the respective tools or framework for development. To that end, developing States conclude IIAs and compete for FDI without truly questioning the nexus between FDI, IIL and development.
Developing States should question the intersectionality between these concepts and their underlying roots. The very pursuit of development is a challenge in itself. Development is a subjective and complex concept but it is traditionally and erroneously linked to economic growth. Within this particular framing of development, it is said that economic benefits will ‘trickle down’ to society through enhanced wages, modernisation and productivity without intervention from the State. However, this is not true. The ability of developing States to achieve change is dependent on an inclusive conceptualisation of development. To that end, inclusive development requires these States to adopt a proactive stance and use of law to harness FDI, so that the connection between FDI and development is secured in a manner which works to their advantage.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 30, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 28, 2022
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7864588
• External URL: https://uwe.worktribe.com/record.jx?recordid=7864588
• Award Date: Sep 27, 2022