Reputational Costs Beyond Treaty Exclusion: International Law Violations As Security Threat Focal Points
Journal: Open Scholarship Institutional Repository (Washington University in St. Louis)
Year: 2011

Given the rarity of direct sanctions for violations of international law, the rationality of compliance often hinges on a vague estimation of “reputational costs.” Rationalist international law scholars currently calculate noncompliance reputational costs as the price a state pays when excluded from future treaties due to its reputation as an unreliable treaty partner. From such limited reputational costs, it might follow that international law is powerless in the high stakes arena of internatio