US diplomacy is broken. As a result, the United States sits on the sidelines as the remainder of the world writes international law dealing with a host of vexing problems. The source of the dysfunction is domestic politics. Partisan polarization has rendered the domestic treaty process unworkable. Instead, presidents rely entirely on unilateral tools to complete their agreements, making them far weaker and less legitimate. Using a mixed-methods approach, Peake assesses the politics surrounding treaty ratification and the use of unilateral authority since World War Two, with a particular focus on the twenty-first century. He employs original data from 1949 through 2020, including 1,000 treaties and more than 3,000 executive agreements. The analysis provides case studies of the domestic politics of several recent international agreements, including on climate change, Iranian nuclear weapons, security in Iraq and Afghanistan, human rights, and the law of the sea.
Author(s): Jeffrey S. Peake
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 160
City: New York
Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
Recent Trends in the Treaty Process
Defining Concepts
International Agreements: A Brief Political History
International Relations Theory and International Agreements
Plan of the Book
Notes
2 Recent Trends in Treaty Politics
A New START?
Partisan Polarization and International Agreements
Article II Treaties During the Obama Administration
Treaties During the Trump Administration
Conclusion
Notes
3 The Effects of Partisan Polarization On Treaty Politics
Explaining Presidential Treaty Usage
Treaty Gridlock
Explaining Trends in Treaty Gridlock
Treaty Gridlock at the Individual Treaty Level
Conclusion
Notes
4 The United States On the Outside: Multilateral Conventions
The UN Convention On the Law of the Sea
Human Rights Treaties
Environmental Treaties
Arms Control Treaties
Conclusion
Notes
5 Executive Agreements: Implementing US Diplomacy
Executive Agreements
Executive Agreements Dataset
Agreement Topic
Agreement Partners
Executive Branch Agencies
Discussion
The Iraq and Afghanistan Agreements
Trade Agreements
Conclusion
Notes
6 Weak Commitments: The Limits of Presidential Unilateralism
Political Commitments
The Iran Nuclear Agreement
The Paris Agreement On Climate Change
Conclusion
Notes
7 Conclusions
Mea Culpa
Prospects for Change
Concluding Thoughts
Notes
References
Index
