Making and Bending International Rules
Subtitle: The Design of Exceptions and Escape Clauses in Trade Law
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 298
ISBN-13: 9781107140868
Subjects: World trade organization; Foreign trade regulation
Description: All treaties, from human rights to international trade, include formal exceptions that allow governments to legally break the rules that they have committed to, in order to deal with unexpected events. Such institutional "flexibility" is necessary, yet it raises a tricky theoretical question: how to allow for this necessary flexibility, while preventing its abuse? Krzysztof Pelc examines how designers of rules in vastly different settings come upon similar solutions to render treaties resistant to unexpected events. Essential for undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars in political science, economics, and law, the book provides a comprehensive account of the politics of treaty flexibility. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, its multi-disciplinary approach addresses the paradoxes inherent in making and bending international rules.