Building Multilateralism on Bilateralism: Evidence from Networked Governance of FDls in Asia

In this article, I develop the multilateralism-through-bilateralism thesis by analyzing Asian bilateral investment treaties (BITs)-the idea that dense networks of bilateral agreements with similar contents provide the architecture for de facto multilateralism in regional economic governance. BIT networks are becoming increasingly dense and converging in content, and hence are analogous to a multilateral architecture for investment governance in the region. Key elements of this process are the degree of density and uniformity of BIT networks. Using the tool of social network analysis, I show that Asian BIT networks have become much denser, and they converge rather than diverge in terms of key provisions such as investment protection and dispute settlement procedures. I suggest that bilateralism is not necessarily a substitute for, or a stumbling block to, multilateralism, but should rather be viewed as another useful path toward multilateral governance.