FDI and Domestic Politics

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

How do domestic politics shape support for the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime, and how does FDI affect domestic political phenomena? This panel examines the roles of domestic political actors and institutions in generating support for the international FDI regime, as well as their influence on the patterns of FDI inflows and outflows. It also explores how FDI influences domestic politics. Huh investigates how the material interests of citizens and their normative preferences regarding the state’s regulatory autonomy affect the likelihood that government will settle investor-state disputes. Lugg and Oestman study how information about the costs and reciprocal benefits of the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system influences public support for the ISDS mechanism. Jud’s research focuses on how transparency, through the provision of FDI incentives, contributes to attracting quality FDI projects, with a particular emphasis on the political motives of local politicians and the interests of local citizens. Kim, Kim, and Park examine the mitigating role of FDI on the impact of a Chinese trade shock on the rise of populism. Zhang focuses on the role of the Chinese government in strategically realigning the Chinese semiconductor industry’s outward FDI amid decreasing overall FDI outflows and escalating tensions between China and the United States. These papers utilize novel data, ranging from cross-national and sub-national data to survey experimental data.

Sub Unit

• Division 16: International Political Economy

Individual Presentations

• Partisan Governments and International Economic Dispute Settlements - Seung-Uk Huh, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• US versus Them? Reciprocal Benefits Affect Public Support for International Law - Andrew David Lugg, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Jared Oestman, University of Nevada Las Vegas

• Quality over Quantity: Transparency and the Attraction of FDI Projects - Stefano Jud, University of Bern

• China Shock, Populism and FDI Mismatches - Byung Koo Kim, KDI School of Public Policy and Management; Seungjun Kim, KDI School of Public Policy and Management; Jong Hee Park, Seoul National University

• The Paradox of Declining FDI and the Resilience of China’s Chip Industry - Zhu Zhang, Fairfield University

Chair

• Stephen Chaudoin Harvard University

Discussants

• Andrew Kerner Michigan State University

• Jiakun Zhang University of Kansas