Seminars/Lectures
Objections to Reservations: Decentralized Enforcement of International Law
Tue
Feb
09
International law is sometimes characterized as existing in a world of anarchy, which means that it relies on decentralized enforcement mechanisms. Decentralized enforcement implies a collective action problem. In the context of a multilateral treaty regime, why should one state bear the costs of punishing a violator, when the benefits of that enforcement activity will redound to all the treaty partners? We don’t really have a good general answer to this puzzle, implying that there will be general under-enforcement of international legal norms. This lecture explores the puzzle in the context of treaty law, namely the regime of reservations and objections.
