Failed Treaties
This project identifies and collects all the treaties signed by the United States since the
Founding that did not enter into force for the United States. Roughly 500 treaties meet this description. The Article analyzes the data along multiple dimensions. These analyses are part of a quest to understand trends among the failed treaties, including by comparing them to successful treaties. Do certain types of treaties fail, for instance? Are certain partners perpetually losing out? Next, the Article turns to the causes of treaty failure, classifying each failed treaty from among six explanations. Finally, the Article distills lessons from 250 years of treaty failure.
About the International Law Workshop
Michigan’s International Law Workshop engages with cutting-edge scholarship in the field, focusing in particular on current challenges to the international legal order. The workshop is open to the academic community, and no rsvp is required. Professors Julian Arato and Kristina Daugirdas organize the workshop. If you would like to receive workshop announcements, please contact Alex Wroble ([email protected]) and ask to have your name added to the workshop’s email list.