International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects

Steven J. Hoffman; Prativa Baral; Susan Rogers Van Katwyk; Lathika Sritharan; Matthew Hughsam; Harkanwal Randhawa; Gigi Lin; Sophie Campbell; Brooke Campus; Maria Dantas; Neda Foroughian; G. Celle Groux; Elliot Gunn; Gordon Guyatt; Roojin Habibi; Mina Karabit; Aneesh Karir; Krista Kruja; John N. Lavis; Olivia Lee; Binxi Li; Ranjana Nagi; Kiyuri Naicker; John Arne Røttingen; Nicola Sahar; Archita Srivastava; Ali Tejpar; Maxwell Tran; Yu Qing Zhang; Qi Zhou; Mathieu J.P. Poirier

doi:10.1073/pnas.2122854119

International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects

Steven J. Hoffman, Prativa Baral, Susan Rogers Van Katwyk, Lathika Sritharan, Matthew Hughsam, Harkanwal Randhawa, Gigi Lin, Sophie Campbell, Brooke Campus, Maria Dantas, Neda Foroughian, G. Celle Groux, Elliot Gunn, Gordon Guyatt, Roojin Habibi, Mina Karabit, Aneesh Karir, Krista Kruja, John N. Lavis, Olivia LeeBinxi Li, Ranjana Nagi, Kiyuri Naicker, John Arne Røttingen, Nicola Sahar, Archita Srivastava, Ali Tejpar, Maxwell Tran, Yu Qing Zhang, Qi Zhou, Mathieu J.P. Poirier

Nottingham China Health Institute

Research output: Journal Publication › Article › peer-review

68 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There are over 250,000 international treaties that aim to foster global cooperation. But are treaties actually helpful for addressing global challenges? This systematic field-wide evidence synthesis of 224 primary studies and meta-analysis of the higher-quality 82 studies finds treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects. The only exceptions are treaties governing international trade and finance, which consistently produced intended effects. We also found evidence that impactful treaties achieve their effects through socialization and normative processes rather than longer-term legal processes and that enforcement mechanisms are the only modifiable treaty design choice with the potential to improve the effectiveness of treaties governing environmental, human rights, humanitarian, maritime, and security policy domains. This evidence synthesis raises doubts about the value of international treaties that neither regulate trade or finance nor contain enforcement mechanisms.

Original language	English
Article number	e2122854119
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	119
Issue number	32
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122854119
Publication status	Published - 9 Aug 2022

Keywords

global governance
global legal epidemiology
human rights
international law
systematic review

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

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10.1073/pnas.2122854119

Cite this

Hoffman, S. J., Baral, P., Van Katwyk, S. R., Sritharan, L., Hughsam, M., Randhawa, H., Lin, G., Campbell, S., Campus, B., Dantas, M., Foroughian, N., Celle Groux, G., Gunn, E., Guyatt, G., Habibi, R., Karabit, M., Karir, A., Kruja, K., Lavis, J. N., ... Poirier, M. J. P. (2022). International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(32), Article e2122854119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122854119

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title = "International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects",

abstract = "There are over 250,000 international treaties that aim to foster global cooperation. But are treaties actually helpful for addressing global challenges? This systematic field-wide evidence synthesis of 224 primary studies and meta-analysis of the higher-quality 82 studies finds treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects. The only exceptions are treaties governing international trade and finance, which consistently produced intended effects. We also found evidence that impactful treaties achieve their effects through socialization and normative processes rather than longer-term legal processes and that enforcement mechanisms are the only modifiable treaty design choice with the potential to improve the effectiveness of treaties governing environmental, human rights, humanitarian, maritime, and security policy domains. This evidence synthesis raises doubts about the value of international treaties that neither regulate trade or finance nor contain enforcement mechanisms.",

keywords = "global governance, global legal epidemiology, human rights, international law, systematic review",

author = "Hoffman, \{Steven J.\} and Prativa Baral and \{Van Katwyk\}, \{Susan Rogers\} and Lathika Sritharan and Matthew Hughsam and Harkanwal Randhawa and Gigi Lin and Sophie Campbell and Brooke Campus and Maria Dantas and Neda Foroughian and \{Celle Groux\}, G. and Elliot Gunn and Gordon Guyatt and Roojin Habibi and Mina Karabit and Aneesh Karir and Krista Kruja and Lavis, \{John N.\} and Olivia Lee and Binxi Li and Ranjana Nagi and Kiyuri Naicker and R{\o}ttingen, \{John Arne\} and Nicola Sahar and Archita Srivastava and Ali Tejpar and Maxwell Tran and Zhang, \{Yu Qing\} and Qi Zhou and Poirier, \{Mathieu J.P.\}",

year = "2022",

month = aug,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1073/pnas.2122854119",

language = "English",

volume = "119",

journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",

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Hoffman, SJ, Baral, P, Van Katwyk, SR, Sritharan, L, Hughsam, M, Randhawa, H, Lin, G, Campbell, S, Campus, B, Dantas, M, Foroughian, N, Celle Groux, G, Gunn, E, Guyatt, G, Habibi, R, Karabit, M, Karir, A, Kruja, K, Lavis, JN, Lee, O, Li, B, Nagi, R, Naicker, K, Røttingen, JA, Sahar, N, Srivastava, A, Tejpar, A, Tran, M, Zhang, YQ, Zhou, Q & Poirier, MJP 2022, 'International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 119, no. 32, e2122854119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122854119

TY - JOUR

T1 - International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects

AU - Hoffman, Steven J.

AU - Baral, Prativa

AU - Van Katwyk, Susan Rogers

AU - Sritharan, Lathika

AU - Hughsam, Matthew

AU - Randhawa, Harkanwal

AU - Lin, Gigi

AU - Campbell, Sophie

AU - Campus, Brooke

AU - Dantas, Maria

AU - Foroughian, Neda

AU - Celle Groux, G.

AU - Gunn, Elliot

AU - Guyatt, Gordon

AU - Habibi, Roojin

AU - Karabit, Mina

AU - Karir, Aneesh

AU - Kruja, Krista

AU - Lavis, John N.

AU - Lee, Olivia

AU - Li, Binxi

AU - Nagi, Ranjana

AU - Naicker, Kiyuri

AU - Røttingen, John Arne

AU - Sahar, Nicola

AU - Srivastava, Archita

AU - Tejpar, Ali

AU - Tran, Maxwell

AU - Zhang, Yu Qing

AU - Zhou, Qi

AU - Poirier, Mathieu J.P.

PY - 2022/8/9

Y1 - 2022/8/9

N2 - There are over 250,000 international treaties that aim to foster global cooperation. But are treaties actually helpful for addressing global challenges? This systematic field-wide evidence synthesis of 224 primary studies and meta-analysis of the higher-quality 82 studies finds treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects. The only exceptions are treaties governing international trade and finance, which consistently produced intended effects. We also found evidence that impactful treaties achieve their effects through socialization and normative processes rather than longer-term legal processes and that enforcement mechanisms are the only modifiable treaty design choice with the potential to improve the effectiveness of treaties governing environmental, human rights, humanitarian, maritime, and security policy domains. This evidence synthesis raises doubts about the value of international treaties that neither regulate trade or finance nor contain enforcement mechanisms.

AB - There are over 250,000 international treaties that aim to foster global cooperation. But are treaties actually helpful for addressing global challenges? This systematic field-wide evidence synthesis of 224 primary studies and meta-analysis of the higher-quality 82 studies finds treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects. The only exceptions are treaties governing international trade and finance, which consistently produced intended effects. We also found evidence that impactful treaties achieve their effects through socialization and normative processes rather than longer-term legal processes and that enforcement mechanisms are the only modifiable treaty design choice with the potential to improve the effectiveness of treaties governing environmental, human rights, humanitarian, maritime, and security policy domains. This evidence synthesis raises doubts about the value of international treaties that neither regulate trade or finance nor contain enforcement mechanisms.

KW - global governance

KW - global legal epidemiology

KW - human rights

KW - international law

KW - systematic review

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85135287392

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2122854119

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2122854119

M3 - Article

C2 - 35914153

AN - SCOPUS:85135287392

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 119

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 32

M1 - e2122854119

ER -

International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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