INTL 4440 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Pacta Sunt Servanda, Law Of Obligations, World Trade Organization

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: International Affairs
• Course: INTL 4440
• Professor: Danny Hill

Document Summary

Following the rules of agreements and institutions: trade agreements and tariffs, environmental agreements and emissions reduction. The managerial school: assumes states generally (want to) comply, this may be a strong assumption. Do states want to comply: two broad reasons: Why comply: governments must consent to treaties. You probably won"t see agreement in the first place. Negotiations cost suggest states enter in good faith: agreements can be tailored to specific interests. Many are very specific, e. g. salt treaties: legal obligation (pacta sunt servanda) Must justify behavior: often incorporated into domestic law. Why violate: usually not deliberate (but it could be) Occasional bad faith (e. g. human rights: non-compliance results from poor design. Couldn"t (or didn"t want to) agree on specifics. Vague headlines lead to salami tactics : find the lines. Lack of capacity to live up to agreements. Policy implications: better to aim for acceptable level of compliance, standard depends on cost of violation.