Dysfunctional Diplomacy: The Politics of International Agreements in an Era of Partisan Polarization

The US treaty process is broken due to partisan polarization, making agreements weaker and less legitimate. Peake's mixed-methods approach assesses the politics surrounding treaty ratification and unilateral authority since WWII, with case studies of recent international agreements.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 152 pages
Publication date: 30 December 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The United States' diplomatic system is in disrepair, leading to its marginalization in the global governance of international law. The root of this dysfunction lies in domestic politics, where partisan polarization has rendered the treaty process ineffective. Instead, presidents resort to unilateral measures to conclude agreements, resulting in weaker and less legitimate outcomes. In his comprehensive study, Peake employs a mixed-methods approach to examine the politics surrounding treaty ratification and unilateral authority since World War II, with a particular focus on the twenty-first century. Drawing on original data spanning from 1949 to 2020, including 1,000 treaties and over 3,000 executive agreements, Peake conducts in-depth analysis to provide case studies of the domestic politics surrounding recent international agreements on critical issues such as climate change, Iranian nuclear weapons, security in Iraq and Afghanistan, human rights, and the law of the sea. This research sheds light on the complex dynamics and challenges that shape international negotiations and underscores the urgent need for reform in the US diplomatic apparatus to ensure its effective participation in global governance.

Weight: 252g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367429775