L'Etat de Droit, facteur determinant a l'entree des investissements etrangers directs: Le cas de la Serbie

Foreign direct investments (FDI) are considered an important source of capital and economic growth, due notably to globalization and to significant restrictions of international development aid in poor countries and countries in transition. FDI are presumed to stimulate competition, innovation, savings, employment and the quality of human resources. International financial institutions encourage governments to promote their countries as an attractive destination for FDI. At the same time, in States in transition, they insist on the fact that FDI require the respect of the Rule of Law and predictable local legal norms suitable to the market economy. If the reform of law is of crucial importance to attract FDI, our thesis seeks to evaluate and analyze the impact of law and stable state institutions on FDI entry and economic growth in Serbia, our case study. It also explores to what extent the presence of the FDI contributes to the consolidation of the Rule of Law in this country. To this end, it analyses the legal system that has been put in place in Serbia between 2000 and 2007 and since the change of political regime. Our initial hypothesis was that the Rule of Law is important for FDI as it offers a good starting point for increasing the economic activity in the host state. But our conclusion is that the improvement of the local legal system plays an important but not decisive role in localization of foreign investments. The case study shows that investors' motivation to invest is complex and determined by more than one factor. Sometimes, investors are not considering the fragile state of the legal system of the host country in their decision to invest. Our thesis confirms Dunning's OLI Paradigm. However, our interviews have revealed that investors can pay special attention to the improvement of legislation that has a specific impact on their own economic activity and may influence the reform of private law in the host state. At the same time, investors do not fear that the deficiencies of local law will have a detrimental impact on their investments. In conclusion, States in transition must be concerned, first of all, by the improvement of social and economic services to their citizens. Therefore, FDI promotion should also be tied to this aim to promote legal reform and economic development in States in transition.;Key words: Foreign direct investment, Rule of Law, Transition, South-East Europe, Serbia, Economic reforms, Legal reforms.