Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:00:31.636Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Design in Context: Existing International Agreements and New Cooperation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2014

Mark S. Copelovitch  and
Tonya L. Putnam
Get access

Abstract

This research note highlights an important element missing from rational design theories of international agreements: “institutional context”—the presence or absence of existing and prior agreements between prospective partners in “new” cooperation. If, as rational design theorists argue, agreement design is deliberate, strategic, and directed toward enhancing contracting parties' ability to credibly commit to future cooperation, then prior design “successes” should influence the terms of additional cooperation. We test for this omitted variable problem in three agreement design outcomes: ex ante limitations on agreement duration, exit clauses, and dispute-settlement provisions. Through an augmentation and reanalysis of data from a key study in the rational design literature—Barbara Koremenos's “Contracting Around International Uncertainty”—we show institutional context is positively correlated with inclusion of ex ante time limitations in negotiated agreements and negatively correlated with the inclusion of exit clauses and third-party dispute-settlement provisions. Institutional context also mediates and conditions the effects of the explanatory variable at the heart of existing rational design theories—uncertainty about the future distribution of gains from cooperation. Our findings show that the collective appeal of particular design features varies not only with the nature of underlying strategic problems, but also with degrees of shared institutional context.

Type
Research Notes
Information
International Organization , Volume 68 , Issue 2 , Spring 2014 , pp. 471 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, Kenneth W., and Snidal, Duncan. 2000. Hard and Soft Law in International Governance. International Organization 54 (3):421–56.Google Scholar
Aggarwal, Vinod K. 1998. Institutional Designs for a Complex World: Bargaining, Linkages, and Nesting. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Axelrod, Robert. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Alter, Karen J., and Meunier, Sophie. 2009. The Politics of International Regime Complexity. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1): 13–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baccini, Leonardo, Duer, Andreas, Elsig, Manfred, and Milewicz, Karolina. 2011. The Politics of Trade Agreement Design: Depth, Scope, and Flexibility. Paper presented at the 2011 International Political Economy Society Meeting, 11–12 November, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
Bhagwati, Jagdish. 1995. US Trade Policy: The Infatuation with Free Trade Areas. In The Dangerous Drift to Preferential Trade Agreements, edited by Bhagwati, Jagdish and Krueger, Anne O., 1–18.Washington, DC: AEI Press.Google Scholar
Brambor, Thomas, Clark, William Roberts, and Golder, Matt. 2006. Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses. Political Analysis 14 (1):63–82.Google Scholar
Braumoeller, Bear F. 2004. Hypothesis Testing and Multiplicative Interaction Terms. International Organization 58 (4):807–20.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce. 1985. The War Trap Revisited: A Revised Expected Utility Model. American Political Science Review 79 (1):156–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Busch, Mark L. 2007. Overlapping Institutions, Forum Shopping, and Dispute Settlement in International Trade. International Organization 61 (4):735–61.Google Scholar
Cohen, Benjamin. 2000. The Triad and the Unholy Trinity: Problems of International Monetary Cooperation. In International Political Economy: Perspectives on Power and Wealth, 4th ed., edited by Frieden, Jeffrey and Lake, David A., 245–56. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Downs, George W., and Jones, Michael A.. 2002. Reputation, Compliance, and International Law. Journal of Legal Studies 31 (1):S95–S114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drezner, Daniel W. 2009. The Power and Peril of International Regime Complexity. Perspectives on Politics 7 (1):65–70.Google Scholar
Duffield, John S. 2003. The Limits of “Rational Design.” International Organization 57 (2):411–30.Google Scholar
Fearon, James D. 1994. Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes. American Political Science Review 88 (3):577–92.Google Scholar
Fearon, James D. 1998. Bargaining, Enforcement, and International Cooperation. International Organization 52 (2):269–305.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Michael, Johns, Leslie, and Rosendorff, B. Peter. 2010. Strengthening International Courts and the Early Settlement of Disputes. Journal of Conflict Resolution 54 (1):5–38.Google Scholar
Guzman, Andrew T. 2002. The Cost of Credibility: Explaining Resistance to Interstate Dispute Resolution Mechanisms. Journal of Legal Studies 31 (June):303–26.Google Scholar
Guzman, Andrew T. 2008. How International Law Works: A Rational Choice Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hafner-Burton, Emilie M., Helfer, Laurence R., and Fariss, Christopher J.. 2011. Emergency and Escape: Explaining Derogations from Human Rights Treaties. International Organization 65 (4):673–707.Google Scholar
Johns, Leslie, and Rosendorff, B. Peter. 2009. Dispute Settlement, Compliance, and Domestic Politics. In Trade Disputes and the Dispute Settlement Understanding of the WTO: An Interdisciplinary Assessment, Frontiers of Economics and Globalization, Vol. 6, edited by Hartigan, James C., 139–64. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press Google Scholar
Koremenos, Barbara. 2005. Contracting Around International Uncertainty. American Political Science Review 99 (4):549–65.Google Scholar
Koremenos, Barbara. 2007. If Only Half of International Agreements Have Dispute Resolution Clauses, Which Half Needs Explaining? Journal of Legal Studies 36 (1):189–212.Google Scholar
Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, eds. 2001. Rational Design: Looking Back to Move Forward. International Organization 55 (4):1051–82.Google Scholar
Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan 2004. The Rational Design of International Institutions. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, 1–40. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1985. Structural Conflict: The Third World Against Global Liberalism. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kucik, Jeffrey, and Reinhardt, Eric. 2008. Does Flexibility Promote Cooperation? An Application to the Global Trade Regime. International Organization 62 (3):477–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kydd, Andrew H. 2004. Trust Building, Trust Breaking: The Dilemma of NATO Enlargement. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 41–68. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kydd, Andrew H. 2005. Trust and Mistrust in International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipson, Charles. 1991. Why Are Some International Agreements Informal? International Organization 45 (4):495–538.Google Scholar
Martin, Lisa L. 1993. Credibility, Costs, and Institutions: Cooperation on Economic Sanctions. World Politics 45 (3):406–32.Google Scholar
Martin, Lisa L., and Simmons, Beth A.. 1998. Theories and Empirical Studies of International Institutions. International Organization 52 (4):729–57.Google Scholar
Mattli, Walter. 2004. Private Justice in a Global Economy: From Litigation to Arbitration. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 159–88. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Ronald B., and Keilbach, Patricia M.. 2004. Situation Structure and Institutional Design: Reciprocity, Coercion, and Exchange. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Barbara, Koremenos, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 131–58. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Morrow, James D. 1994. Modeling the Forms of International Cooperation: Distribution Versus Information. International Organization 48 (3):387–423.Google Scholar
Morrow, James D. 2004. The Institutional Features of the Prisoners of War Treaties. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 211–32. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Oatley, Thomas H. 2004. Multilateralizing Trade and Payments in Postwar Europe. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 189–210. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pahre, Robert. 2004. Most-Favored Nation Clauses and Clustered Negotiations. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 99–130. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Raustiala, Kal, and Victor, David G.. 2004. The Regime Complex for Plant Genetic Resources. International Organization 58 (2):277–309.Google Scholar
Richards, John E. 2004. Institutions for Flying: How States Built a Market in International Aviation Services. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 233–58. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosendorff, B. Peter. 2005. Stability and Rigidity: Politics and Design of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Procedure. American Political Science Review 99 (3):389–400.Google Scholar
Rosendorff, B. Peter, and Milner, Helen V.. 2004. The Optimal Design of International Trade Institutions: Uncertainty and Escape. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 69–98. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sagan, Scott D. 1993. The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Beth A. 2000. International Law and State Behavior: Commitment and Compliance in International Monetary Affairs. American Political Science Review 94 (4):819–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Beth A., and Hopkins, Daniel J.. 2005. The Constraining Power of International Treaties: Theory and Methods. American Political Science Review 99 (4):623–31.Google Scholar
Smith, James McCall. 2000. The Politics of Dispute Settlement Design: Explaining Legalism in Regional Trade Pacts. International Organization 54 (1):137–80.Google Scholar
Snidal, Duncan. 1985. Coordination Versus Prisoners' Dilemma: Implications for International Cooperation and Regimes. American Political Science Review 79 (4):923–42.Google Scholar
Stein, Arthur A. 1982. Coordination and Collaboration: Regimes in an Anarchic World. International Organization 36 (2):299–324.Google Scholar
Stein, Arthur A. 1990. Why Nations Cooperate: Circumstance and Choice in International Relations. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Alexander. 2010. Rational Design in Motion: Uncertainty and Flexibility in the Global Climate Change Regime. European Journal of International Relations 16 (2):269–96.Google Scholar
Tomz, Michael. 2007. Reputation and International Cooperation: Sovereign Debt Across Three Centuries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Urpelainen, Johannes. 2012. How Uncertainty About Outside Options Impedes International Cooperation. International Theory 4 (1):133–63.Google Scholar
von Stein, Jana. 2005. Do Treaties Screen on Constrain? Selection Bias and Treaty Compliance. American Political Science Review 99 (4):611–22.Google Scholar
Watson, Joel. 1999. Starting Small and Renegotiation. Journal of Economic Theory 85 (1):52–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, Joel. 2002. Starting Small and Commitment. Games and Economic Behavior 38 (1):176–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendt, Alexander. 2004. Driving With the Rear View Mirror: On the Rational Science of Institutional Design. In The Rational Design of International Institutions, edited by Koremenos, Barbara, Lipson, Charles, and Snidal, Duncan, 259–90. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yackee, Jason W. 2008. Bilateral Investment Treaties, Credible Commitment, and the Rule of (International) Law: Do BITs Promote Foreign Direct Investment? Law and Society Review 42 (4):805–32.Google Scholar