Prosperity' through Hybridizing the Public with the Private? Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Sustainable Development and International Law.

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) act as interlocutors and catalyzers to foster the private sector growth in developing countries through the use of bilateral development assistance to finance their projects. DFIs may be fully or partially state-owned and are often themselves set up as private sector companies in their countries of origin. Multiple DFIs operate in the same developing country settings, often deploying different governance norms. They also conclude different private contractual arrangements in financing the private sector. Although they have broad reach with respect to the sectors that they finance, which include manufacturing and infrastructure but also health care, education, agricultural production, they do not always have mechanisms to keep track of their impacts on people, planet and prosperity. This research project seeks to understand how different DFIs factor in accountability around people, planet and prosperity in their work and identify shortcomings based on real life experiences on the ground. It also aims to make a normative contribution to international law scholarship by evaluating whether and how international law can accommodate obligations incumbent upon hybrid public-private actors and their responsibility under international law.

Keywords:LAW AND DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

Disciplines:Economic, commercial and financial law, International law