Treaty Compliance Research Articles

The Architecture of International Cooperation: Transgovernmental Networks and the Future of International Law

The prevailing form of international cooperation in 20th century, known as liberal internationalism, is increasingly under attack. Based on multilateral treaties, often coupled to formal organizations, liberal internationalism has drawn fire from many quarters. Some critics argue that international organizations threaten national sovereignty and ought to be curtailed. Others claim that globalization and rise of NGOs are eclipsing state power. In response, transgovernmentalists argue that while that liberal internationalism is dying, state is here to stay. Much contemporary international cooperation is not international at all: rather, it is occurring among discrete, specialized domestic agencies. These are expanding rapidly, particularly in regulation. Proponents believe that networks are the blueprint for international architecture of 21st century. This article assesses future of international cooperation by examining transgovernmental networks and evaluating their relationship to liberal internationalism. My central claim is that networks are a significant development in international law, but one likely to supplement and strengthen, rather than supplant, liberal internationalism. I make four subsidiary claims. First, an empirical examination of three networks - in securities, competition, and environmental regulation - demonstrates that networks are active and growing. Second, I argue three factors are driving evolution of networks: expansion of domestic regulation, increased economic interdependence, and technological innovation. Third, while regulatory enforcement has been a key driver of networks, networks also promote export of regulatory rules and practices from major powers to weaker states, which in turn promotes policy convergence. I offer a theory of this process which builds upon insights of network economics. Fourth, and most importantly, cooperation that networks foster and convergence that they facilitate have important implications for liberal internationalism. Networks smooth negotiation of new treaties. They act as gap-fillers where treaties are politically precluded. And by building bureaucratic capacity, networks can improve domestic regulation and thereby enhance treaty compliance and effectiveness. Put differently, there are good reasons to believe networks will make treaties more effective by making governments more effective.

Whither Fall Meeting?

The international nuclear test monitoring system of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT, provides a high level of confidence to verify treaty compliance and detect nuclear explosions, according to a new report.This is with or without additional U.S. national technical means of verification, the report notes. The high level of confidence assumes the full capability of the international monitoring system, which is currently under construction and will eventually include a global network of 337 sensors and laboratories to detect seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic, and radionuclide signals.

Test Ban Treaty provides high level of verification, explosion detection capabilities, report notes

The international nuclear test monitoring system of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT, provides a high level of confidence to verify treaty compliance and detect nuclear explosions, according to a new report.This is with or without additional U.S. national technical means of verification, the report notes. The high level of confidence assumes the full capability of the international monitoring system, which is currently under construction and will eventually include a global network of 337 sensors and laboratories to detect seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic, and radionuclide signals.

The "Radiation Continuity Checker": an instrument for monitoring nuclear disarmament treaty compliance

We describe the design and construction of an instrument designed to monitor compliance with future arms control treaties. By monitoring changes in the gamma-ray spectrum emitted by a stored nuclear weapon, our device is able to sense perturbations in the contents of a weapon storage container that would indicate treaty non-compliance. Our instrument (dubbed the Radiation Continuity Checker or RCC) is designed to detect significant perturbations in the gamma-ray spectra (indicative of tampering) while storing no classified information about the weapon, and having a negligible false alarm rate. In this paper we describe the technical details of two prototype instruments and describe the strategies we have adopted to perform signal processing in these instruments. Our first instrument prototype uses a scintillation spectrometer and a massive tungsten alloy collimator to reject the gamma-ray background. Our second prototype instrument makes use of an active collimation scheme employing a multiple detector Compton scatter approach to reject background radiation. The signal processing method we employ uses linear algorithms applied pulse by pulse. This eliminates the need for storage of pulse height spectra, which are in many cases classified.

Reputation, Compliance, and International Law

Increasingly skeptical about the efficiency and effectiveness of formal multilateral enforcement mechanisms, a growing number of international relations theorists and international lawyers have begun to argue that states’ reputational concerns are actually the principal mechanism for maintaining a high level of treaty compliance. This essay argues that there are a number of empirical and theoretical reasons for believing that the actual effects of reputation are both weaker and more complicated than the standard view of reputation suggests. While states have reason to revise their estimates of a state’s reputation following a defection or pattern of defections, they have reason to do so only in connection with those agreements that they believe are (1) affected by the same or similar sources of fluctuating compliance costs and (2) valued the same or less by the defecting state. Among the implications of this is that all but the newest states maintain multiple reputations.

RESOLVING THE SINO-INDIAN BORDER DISPUTE: Building Confidence through Cooperative Monitoring

Research Article| April 01 2001 RESOLVING THE SINO-INDIAN BORDER DISPUTE: Building Confidence through Cooperative Monitoring Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Jing-Dong Yuan Jing-Dong Yuan Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (2001) 41 (2): 351–376. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2001.41.2.351 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, Jing-Dong Yuan; RESOLVING THE SINO-INDIAN BORDER DISPUTE: Building Confidence through Cooperative Monitoring. Asian Survey 1 April 2001; 41 (2): 351–376. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2001.41.2.351 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. © Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Environmental non-compliance procedures and international law

A number of recent environmental treaties provide for a non-compliance procedure (NCP) to address failure by Contracting Parties properly to implement their treaty obligations. Examples include the 1987 Montreal Protocol to the 1985 Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer; the 1991 VOC and 1994 Sulphur Protocols to the 1979 Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Treaty; the 1992 Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic; and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change, all of which envisage a separate mechanism for compliance being established. This recourse to non-compliance procedures is evidence of a growing awareness that traditional rules of international law concerned with material breach of treaty obligations and with state responsibility are inappropriate – and, indeed, unable – fully to address problems of environmental treaty compliance. This is a consequence both of the nature of international environmental obligations, in particular their non-reciprocal character, and of the inherent limitations of the present rules relating to treaty breach and state responsibility in addressing harm especially to the global commons. This is a consequence both of the nature of international environmental obligations, in particular their non-reciprocal character, and of the inherent limitations of the present rules relating to treaty breach and state responsibility in addressing harm especially to the global commons. Even the innovative provisions of the current draft articles of the ILC on state responsibility, which address breach of multilateral and erga omnes obligations and are discussed further below, do not completely fill the ‘responsibility gap’. Nonetheless recent international environmental agreements do not eschew traditional international law mechanisms; indeed, in all of the instances cited above, non-compliance procedures function alongside traditional dispute settlement mechanisms. This duality is possible if one views NCPs as located within a wider category of non-confrontational dispute avoidance procedures which combine classical methods, which have their roots in the dispute settlement mechanisms developed under general international law, with ‘innovative procedures for enhancing compliance with, and responding to, non-performance of international obligations.’

A substantive theory of the relative efficiency of environmental treaty compliance strategies: The case of cites

To date, there has been no effort to analyze systematically the reasons for noncom‐pliance with The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the various strategics available to address those shortcomings. This article reports on a study which proposes a substantive theory of the relative efficiency of environmental treaty compliance strategies in the CITES context. In brief, the theory suggests that countries will comply more fully with their treaty obligations if the costs of compliance are reduced, and certain strategies are more efficient in reducing these costs than others. The costs and benefits of various strategies, applicable to both the target and the initiator of the strategy, are detailed. Hypotheses about the relative efficiency of the strategies and corollaries relating to the selection of target countries and the appropriateness of certain strategies for treaty parties are also described.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION

With the Senate's recent approval of a bill to implement domestically the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)—a treaty the Senate ratified last year—the U.S. is one step closer to coming into compliance with its treaty obligations. But one step closer is several steps short of actual implementing legislation and treaty compliance. The implementing bill, which has now been approved twice by the Senate and once by the House, still contains controversial provisions attached to it the first time around by Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) in May 1997. Once it reached the House, the CWC implementing bill was attached to House-developed legislation that would impose sanctions on foreign companies—mainly Russian— that supply missile technology to Iran. The House overwhelmingly favored a sanctions bill but feared a threatened veto by President Bill Clinton, who opposed sanctions but dearly wanted CWC implementing legislation. Thus, the joining of the two issues. The ...

Detection of Teleseismic Events in Seismic Sensor Data Using Nonlinear Dynamic Forecasting

In this paper we consider the use of nonlinear dynamic (NLD) forecasting as a signal processing tool for seismic applications. The specific problem considered here arises in monitoring nuclear tests and nuclear treaty compliance, where the presence of ubiquitous background noise obscures the seismic signals associated with the tests. The problem is that the signal from a distant teleseismic event can be attenuated so that it is lost in the background noise, and since the noise overlaps the frequency band occupied by the teleseisms, frequency-based techniques provide only marginal improvements in detection capabilities. For the work in this paper, we studied a test set of actual seismic sensor data prepared by the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC). The data set was composed of background seismic noise which contained or had added to it a number of hidden teleseismic signals. This data was analyzed to determine if techniques of NLD forecasting could be used to detect the hidden signals. For this test case, it was possible to predict the behavior of the seismic background sufficiently well that when the predicted background behavior was removed, the hidden signals became evident. However, some of the weaker signals were very close to the residual noise level, so the ability to detect these events is compromised.

95/05337 Intentional oil pollution at sea. Environmental policy and treaty compliance

95/05337 Intentional oil pollution at sea. Environmental policy and treaty compliance

Intentional oil pollution at sea: environmental policy and treaty compliance

Intentional oil pollution at sea: environmental policy and treaty compliance

Intentional Oil Pollution at Sea: Environmental Policy and Treaty Compliance By RONALD B. MITCHELL Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1994, 361 pp, with index, $34.95 (hard cover

Intentional Oil Pollution at Sea: Environmental Policy and Treaty Compliance By RONALD B. MITCHELL Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 1994, 361 pp, with index, $34.95 (hard cover

The detection and recognition of underground nuclear explosions

This paper reports on a joint meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society's Joint Association for Geophysics and VERTIC (the Verification Technology Information Centre) held in London in 1992. The topics presented focused on the detection and recognition of underground nuclear explosions. The objective of the meeting was to emphasize the multi-methodological approach that is important in verifying compliance with test-ban treaties. An overview of seismological monitoring was followed by a discussion of the technical and scientific aspects of a global seismic monitoring network, and in particular of the 1991 experiment to test the large-scale international exchange of seismic data between recording stations and data centres world-wide. The current capabilities of satellite remote-sensing were presented, and their use explained in terms of both the provision of information for monitoring the development of foreign nuclear testing programmes and also for providing sufficient information for the evaluation of treaty compliance. A review of radio-isotope sampling showed how the isotopic signature of both air and ground based sampling programmes can be diagnostic of the nuclear source. Finally, previously classified research on the ionospheric effects of underground nuclear explosions was presented, the generated acoustic waves disturbing the ionosphere and producing detectable changes in the reflection of radio and radar signals which have potential as a monitoring technique.

Regime design matters: intentional oil pollution and treaty compliance

Whether a treaty elicits compliance from governments or nonstate actors depends upon identifiable characteristics of the regime's compliance systems. Within the international regime controlling intentional oil pollution, a provision requiring tanker owners to install specified equipment produced dramatically higher levels of compliance than a provision requiring tanker operators to limit their discharges. Since both provisions entailed strong economic incentives for violation and regulated the same countries over the same time period, the variance in compliance clearly can be attributed to different features of the two subregimes. The equipment requirements' success stemmed from establishing an integrated compliance system that increased transparency, provided for potent and credible sanctions, reduced implementation costs to governments by building on existing infrastructures, and prevented violations rather than merely deterring them.

The Foreign Policymaking Role of Congress in the 1990s: Remote Sensing Technology and the Future of Congressional Power

In the midst of a period of Congressional assertiveness on foreign policy, a new technology has emerged for commercial use with the potential for enhancing Congress' information-gathering processes and agenda-setting role. The effect may alter the balance of power in the relationship between Congress and the President. Congress' access to news media stories of imagery may provide an independent information source on U.S. or foreign military installations and activities. Such a source could be utilized to assess issues such as Pentagon appropriations, treaty compliance, and foreign aid funding. The thesis of this article is that when interest groups and the news media use remote sensing imagery on foreign policy issues, the foreign and national security policymaking process will be transformed by enhancing the information status and the public agendasetting role of previously excluded segments such as interest groups, the news media, and the general public. The expanded role of these groups will decentrali...

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Developing an Information Model to Computerize the Monitoring of Treaty Compliance

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1989,1 has inspired an overwhelmingly positive response from the entire world community. On 2 September 1990, a little more than six months after the Convention was opened for signature on 27 January, the Convention achieved the required number of ratifications necessary for it to go into force. A year later, a total of ninety-four countries had become states parties to the Convention. Never before had a human rights treaty been ratified by so many states so quickly.2 The Convention is a comprehensive treaty, covering the full range of human rights.3 Its forty-one substantive articles protect the economic, social, cultural, civil, political, and humanitarian rights of the child.4 The earliest reports from states parties to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the monitoring body of the Convention, are due on 2 September 1992.5 The first reports must include detailed information about each of the

The long pretense: Soviet treaty diplomacy from Lenin to Gorbachev

This history and critique of Soviet treaty diplomacy focuses on the United States' relations with the Soviet Union from 1933, the year when the United States established diplomatic relations with the Kremlin, to the present. Appearing at a time of enormous change within the Soviet Union and in its relations with the United States, the book raises important questions about the degree to which the Soviet Union can be relied upon to honor its treaty commitments. As Beichman reminds us, the Soviet Union's record of treaty compliance in the past is dismal, and its continuing rhetorical strategic commitment to Marxism-Leninism as guiding ideology in its diplomatic activities is troubling. Beichman argues for a more realistic understanding of Soviet history and political culture, so that the results of treaty negotiations will be more positive in the future than they have been in the past. In effect, he argues for a risk-assessment approach, in which diplomats take seriously the possibility of treaty violation and factor the possible consequences into their diplomatic assessments. The Soviet Union's record, from arms control treaty violations to the invasion of Afghanistan, has been appalling, and the ignorance of American statesmen about the Soviet Union, from Roosevelt to Reagan, is discouraging. Despite Gorbachev's accession and liberalizing developments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, he warns, caution is warranted. Using relevant texts and historical materials, supported by anecdotes and his own extensive personal experiences, Beichman presents a readable, compelling argument that is sure to be controversial. The book will be of particular interest to specialists in international affairs, and experts on the Soviet Union and Central Europe, as well as general readers interested in the course of U.S.-Soviet relations.

Ozone-Safe Technology Fund Likely Vital to Montreal Treaty Compliance

Establishment of a multilateral fund to help developing countries pay the extra costs of ozone-safe technology likely will turn out to be the most significant development of June's meeting of the nations that are party to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, the international treaty regulating ozone-depleting chemicals (C&EN, July 9, page 6). The fund is important not only because its creation will help ensure the cooperation of developing countries in protecting the ozone layer, but also because it inevitably will be used as a model in forthcoming international efforts to address the even more contentious issue of global climate change. The importance of Third World countries to the Montreal protocol has been dramatically illustrated in scientific assessments carried out for the United Nations Environment Program. Atmospheric chlorine levels will drop below 2.0 ppb, the level at which the Antarctic ozone hole first appeared, only if all countries comply with a ...

Remote sensing satellites, superpower relations and public diplomacy

Abstract This article examines the consequences for US-Soviet relations of the wide availability of commercial remote sensing images. Both SPOT and Landsat images have recently been used, by the Western media as well as the superpowers themselves, to comment publicly on arms control controversies and environmental disasters, notably Chernobyl. Looking to the future, several scenarios involving third-party intervention in treaty compliance disputes, supported by commercial imagery, are discussed: unpleasant consequences could conceivably follow, but experience to date indicates that outcomes are most likely to foster openness and stability between the superpowers.