Have International Organizations Improved Treaty-making?

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses whether international organizations have improved treaty-making. It also explains the facilitation of cooperation through iteration and access to information, reduction of transaction costs, self-enforcing behaviour, creation of property rights, and issue linkage. The chapter also takes a broader look at international organization forms of treaty-making. UN-sponsored treaty conferences provide a relatively stable negotiation forum that permits negotiators to continue their interaction beyond a single round of negotiations. Organizational mechanisms for treaty-making also reduce transaction costs associated with the conclusion of an agreement and with its maintenance once concluded. Self-enforcing behaviour is a stable equilibrium in which compliance with treaty obligations is maintained. The most familiar example of an international organization-sponsored treaty regime that create or recognize property rights among various rights holders is perhaps the TRIPs Agreement under the WTO regime. Treaty efforts in UN fora often consist of ‘package deals’.