SELYA, Circuit Judge.

This case invites us to fit a complex set of corporate pegs into a series of unfamiliar holes drilled by international conventions and federal statutes. But the pegs are square, the holes are round, and the fit is inexact. Given the facts of this case, the obvious bar to arbitrability is the abecedarian tenet that a party cannot be forced to arbitrate if it has not agreed to do so. The defendants advance several theories designed to circumvent this tenet. After answering a question of first impression in this circuit as to what legal standard controls in cases brought under chapter 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. §§ 201-208, we examine these theories. In the end, we discern no sufficient legal basis for compelling arbitration here. Consequently, we uphold the order ntered below.