Brazil and Disputes with Foreign Investors

Abstract

This article in Portuguese language traces the roots of the Brazilian resistance against international arbitration as a means for settling disputes with foreign investors. It sketches how all bilateral treaties on the protection of foreign investments signed by the Brazilian government have systematically been rejected by the Brazilian Parliament. The arguments forwarded for this rejection show that the notorious Calvo doctrine is everything but dead. This paper argues that the foundations of the Calvo doctrine can hardly be ignored. Brazil's resistance and the persistence of the Calvo doctrine give valuable insight on how the present investment dispute settlement mechanisms contained bilateral and multilateral investment treaties could be adapted in order to remove their "imperialist" image and gain broader global acceptability.

Keywords: Brazil, arbitration, investment, disputes, ICSID, Calvo

JEL Classification: F13, F21, F23, K33, K41