The Country Risk Concept
The expression “country risk” emerged in the United States in the 1960s. Its meaning has evolved over time, without any definition ever really being settled on.
It is sometimes confused with sovereign risk, but country risk is, in fact, a broader concept; it encompasses social and environmental risks too, for example. Various players – specialist agencies, banks, etc. – endeavor to evaluate country risk; however, results vary considerably depending on the methodology used.
Article published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 80, No. 2, Summer 2015