@article{2022:venzke:vlkerrec,
title = {Völkerrechtlicher Investitionsschutz made in Germany? Zur Genese und Gestalt des ersten BIT zwischen Deutschland und Pakistan (1959)},
year = {2022},
note = {International Investment Protection Made in Germany? On the Genesis
and Shape of the First BIT between Germany and Pakistan (1959) The
investment protection treaty concluded between Germany and Pakistan in
1959 is generally regarded as a milestone in the development of
international investment law. It has entered the collective memory as
the first bilateral investment treaty (BIT). In this article, we
analyse archival sources to investigate what makes this treaty the
first of its kind and why it was Germany that concluded this agreement
at that specific time. Through historical analysis, we outline how
previous instruments of investment protection influenced the creation
and design of the BIT. In this context, continuities with legal
practices and patterns of argumentation of the colonial period become
apparent. In addition, we trace the ideas driving the BIT and its
negotiation process. Considerations of economic policy in the context
of immense trade surpluses were crucial. The emergence of the first
BIT was moreover closely linked with domestic legal instruments, such
as the federal investment guarantee scheme (Bundesgarantien). In
short, German BITs should be understood as an appendix of the budget
acts. Throughout, we highlight the extensive influence of the
financial industry – especially via Hermann Josef Abs.},
journal = {Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht / Heidelberg Journal of International Law},
pages = {73--120},
author = {Venzke, Ingo and Günther, Philipp},
volume = {82},
number = {1}
}