A Post-Consensus Policy Towards Foreign Investment? Between Nationalization and Regulation in Latin America.

The liberalization of the rules that govern the entry and operation of foreign direct investors was one of the key public policy changes implemented by neoliberal governments in Latin America in the early 1990s. Recent changes to the taxation of foreign investors in Venezuela and Chile, renegotiation of public service contracts in Argentina, and threats of nationalization of extractive industries in Bolivia and Peru suggest a major shift in public policy towards foreign investors by some new left governments proclaiming a post-Washington Consensus era. However, these same governments find themselves constrained by domestic political lobbies, pressure from capital-exporting countries and international investment treaties. This paper examines the extent of the change in policy towards foreign investorsin the countries cited above. It seeks to explain why some new left governments have pursued a more radical revision of the rules on investment, while others continue to accept the broad neoliberal framework exemplified by the Washington Consensus. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]