Metagovernance and the Role of Cultural Norms in the Regulation of Foreign Direct Investment: Trans-Tasman FDI Regimes

Abstract

Australia and New Zealand provide a unique set of comparators with which to examine similarities and differences in approaches to the regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI). By examining experience with regulation of FDI in these two states we show how they act in the governance space to enable state directed regulation and how these states differ in their approach to regulation. In particular we focus on the influence of cultural norms in shaping metagovernance responses from each of the states. Textual analysis of the treatment of investment in bi-lateral discussions associated with Closer Economic Relations (CER) demonstrates that political social cultural and institutional factors are integral to modelling the challenges faced by national governments in regulating FDI.