Linos, K;
Pegram, TI;
(2016)
The Language of Compromise in International Agreements.
International Organization
, 70
(3)
pp. 587-621.
10.1017/S0020818316000138.
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Abstract
To reach agreement, international negotiators often compromise by introducing flexibility in language: they make controversial provisions vague, or add options and caveats. Does flexibility in agreement language influence subsequent state behavior? If so, do states follow both firm and flexible language somewhat, as negotiators hope? Or do governments respond strategically, increasing their energies on firmly specified tasks, and reducing their efforts on flexibly specified ones? Testing theories about agreement language is difficult, because states often reserve flexible language for controversial provisions. To make causal claims, we study an unusually drafted agreement, in which states had almost no opportunity to dilute agreement language. We examine the influence of the 1991 Paris Principles on the Design of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), using an original dataset of 22 institutional safeguards of NHRIs in 107 countries, and case studies. We find that variations in agreement language can have large effects on state behavior, even when the entire agreement is non-binding. Both democracies and authoritarian states followed the Principles’ firm terms closely. However, authoritarian states either ignored or reduced their efforts on flexibly specified tasks. If flexibly specifying a task is no different from omitting it altogether, as our data suggest, the costs of compromise are much greater than previously believed.
Type: | Article |
---|---|
Title: | The Language of Compromise in International Agreements |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1017/S0020818316000138 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818316000138 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © The IO Foundation 2016. |
Keywords: | human rights, international organization, international law, legalization, national human rights institutions |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Political Science |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1482194 |
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