Abstract: "Canadian mining investments in Latin America have been a defining phenomenon at several levels. It has augmented this relationship by several orders of magnitude, with Canadian investment stock there reaching $80bn by 2014 and bilateral trade, mostly driven by Latin American mineral exports, reaching $60bn by the same date. The logical corollary is that Canada has become synonym with large-scale modern mining there while Latin America has grown into a place of primary focus for Canadian diplomacy, business interests and even public opinion. That increased relation has also become subject of debates regarding the place of foreign investment in extractive industries in the development of Latin America, as well as on what role Canada has taken and should have there, as well as in other parts of the Global South. This research seeks to contribute to these two ongoing discussions, focusing on institutional determinants and development contributions of foreign direct investments in extractive industries, as well as to the actual relationship being created by the Canada-Latin America mining link. For that purpose, an original dataset has been created to locate and better estimate the economic value of Canadian FDI in Latin America for the last twenty years, the characteristics of the mines operated by these firms, and their relative relevance in each country. The information contained allows readers to disaggregate and analyze the links created by Canadian FDI, as well as to evaluate the general theories put forward as to what influence these investments have created."

Abstract: The major determinants of foreign investment successes are reliant on the overall business and investment climate, i.e. the quality of institutions and regulations in the host-economy. Political risks to investments, generally understood to be in the form of expropriation or harm to foreign enterprises due to factors such as political violence, had generally been considered as attributes exclusive to developing countries. Today, international business and trade has become more complex, and the relationship among politics, ‘policies’ and the activity of international investors has been further complicated by the ongoing economic and financial crises. Coincidentally, the factors that can contribute to certain levels of ‘political risk’ in a given nation-state have also become more complicated, which calls for more research on the study of FDI determinants in ‘developed’ markets. Socio-economic indicators in many parts of Europe point to a number of poignant questions on the relation among inward FDI and stability of business investments which are central to political risk analysis. This paper aims to shed light on the various mechanisms that link inward direct investment and political risk in the context of ‘mature’ liberal democracies by focusing on Italy. After providing a comprehensive account of the overall investment environment and trends, we point to some of the principal reasons behind Italy’s inward-investment and economic difficulties, thus expanding upon the research on socio-political and institutional factors that can affect FDI.

Abstract: Numerous studies explore the rise of global value chains (GVCs) and the challenges posed to corporate governance by the increasingly mobile nature of capital, goods and services. Transnational companies, scholars argue, are free to capitalize on favourable regulatory conditions and trade policies of various countries; they simply need to move or subcontract through a firm located in the preferred jurisdiction. This reduces the bargaining power of labour and governments and complicates efforts to govern corporate activities. Yet despite their apparent fluid nature, GVCs across industries are grounded – however temporarily – in the specific territorial environments where production and management sites are located. Each site exhibits unique social, political and historical features that inform competing demands for corporate governance. In this paper, I explore the nature of extractivist GVCs involving Canadian mining companies and investigate how state and non-state actors try to govern cross-border extractive activities and the impacts this has on the broader GVC. Examining extractivism within the contexts of GVCs can help illuminate the ripple effects that developments at one site have throughout the broader chain, for example, as social mobilization in one site leads to project disruptions and legal disputes for parent companies based in other countries. Examining extractivism in particular sites in light of the broader cross-border network in which they participate also exposes the challenges of governing corporate activities across geographic sites. This study will contribute new theoretical insights to GVC literature and the governance of corporate enterprises.

Abstract: "One of the most analyzed aspect of drinking-water services in the political economy literature has been the participation of the private sector. This paper contributes to this literature by shading light on an important and consequential (but yet little studied) aspect of these privatizing reforms: the governmental decisions taken prior to the adoption of reforms. Like the regulatory content of the reforms and the dynamics of the post-privatization period, these pre-privatization decisions also have important effects on the redistribution and acceptability of the reforms. The paper argues that when the institutionalization of political interests favoring privatization is high, measures to lessen the privatization shock and to enhance revenue for eventual private providers are taken over various years, prior to the privatization of the services and gradually. This institutionalization has a risk absorption impact and leads to the paradoxical outcome of a more unequal redistribution being more accepted by the population. When interests are weakly institutionalized, the time-horizon is smaller and therefore measures are adopted within the timing of the privatization (as part of the process). This paper compares the decisions made by national and subnational governments from Bolivia, Chile and Argentina on two aspects of water and sanitation services that are key both for providers’ revenues and the potential popular mobilization against privatization: consumers’ rates and water quality. The analysis is done through a process-tracing approach, on the basis of quantitative data, interviews and extensive research in governmental, providers’ and press archives. Keywords: Political Economy, Latin America, Privatization, Public Utilities"