This book offers a unique analysis of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). By developing a new, power-focused paradigm for understanding the international investment framework, the author shows the reader why developing countries are reacting against the BIT regime, how attempts to regulate investment at a multilateral level have failed, and why the rules of the framework are evolving. Inspired by the work of Susan Strange, the author fills a significant lacuna in our understanding of these issues by demonstrating how power determines the actions of all those involved. This holistic reinterpretation of international investment focuses in particular on Latin America, but has wider implications for the negotiation of new treaties, including such controversial provisions as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. It will appeal to economists, political scientists and scholars of Latin America.

Chapter 1. The Historical Developments of International Investments (Pre-BITs.- Chapter 2. Relative Power in the Regulation of International Investments at the Multilateral Level.- Chapter 3. BITs in Practice: An Empirical and Comparative Analysis of South American countries' BITs.- Chapter 4. Governments' Intentions and Reasons for entering BITs into force.- Chapter 5. Structural Power in the Regulation of International Investments at the Bilateral Level.- Chapter 6. Lessons for the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).- Conclusion.