From a Multilateral Broker to the National Judge: The Law and Governance of Sovereign Debt Restructuring, 1980–2015
Résumé
This chapter analyzes the succession of two sharply contrasted regimes for sovereign debt restructuring. The first one, which reached maturity during the 1980s, was marked by the central role of the IMF, with multilateral negotiations involving political settlements between debtor governments, creditor banks and their national governments. Today, however, this regime has been succeeded by the central role of national judges with jurisdiction over the main capital markets (especially New York) as the final interpreters of disputes over debt contracts. This chapter shows that the consequences are a “re-territorialization” of public debt restructuring, in spite of the globalization of markets; the domination of a discursive regime based on the language of private contract law; and a major strengthening of the rights of private investors, especially minority ones.