Elizabeth's Abstract

For my research paper I am going to do NAFTA’s chapter 11 and it’s implication for the average American person. I would really like to focus on the laws and policies that have been challenged by foreign corporations that could threaten the health of the people. I would also like to focus on the reasons why chapter 11 was included into NAFTA in the first place.
Chapter 11 is a section of NAFTA that allows foreign corporations of NAFTA countries to sue NAFTA governments that threaten them or their profits. There is a tribunal meeting held to determine the outcome of these cases but these meetings are closed to the public. The tribunal cannot force the governments to change their policies, but they can award huge uncapped financial compensations to the corporations.
I am going to research the reasons why big corporations need chapter 11 to protect themselves from governments. I want to research the situations in the past where governments have directly tried to cut the profits of corporations without a just reason. I want to research all the ways in which chapter 11 helps businesses to make a profit. I also would like to look at the results of chapter 11 for the average American consumer, who is not involved in the Tribunal meetings to determine the outcome of their own government’s policies. I am going to look into the cases that have already been brought against the government and the implications of the results.