When Do States Make Environmental Treaties Easy to Modify, and Does It Work When They Do?
Join the Department of Social Sciences for this Great Problems, Great Minds seminar series event featuring Ronald B. Mitchell, a professor of political science and environmental studies at the University of Oregon.
Most environmental treaties provide that amendments become legally binding (鈥渆nter into force鈥) only when, and only for, those states whose legislatures ratify them. Some treaties, however, provide that amendments become legally binding on all treaty members after a short period during which states can object to their entry into force for their state. States added such 鈥渢acit acceptance鈥 provisions (TAPs) to some treaties to address the long delays in amendment entry into force characteristic of the 鈥渞atification required鈥 approach. They did so to increase the likelihood that amendments, once negotiated, would enter into force promptly for all member states. The contrast of these approaches to amendment entry into force raises two research questions: a) under what conditions do states, and which states, agree to delegate some control over the international obligations that bind them, and b) do the sovereignty risks that such delegation entails actually 鈥渄eliver鈥 in bringing amendments into force more quickly and more broadly? The research takes up both questions: comparing how quickly and which states ratify 鈥渆xplicit ratification鈥 vs. 鈥淭APs鈥 treaties and, separately, comparing the speed and breadth with which 鈥渞atification required鈥 vs. 鈥淭APS鈥 amendments enter into force.
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