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Reputation, Compliance, and International Law

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  • Downs, George W
  • Jones, Michael A

Abstract

Increasingly skeptical about the efficiency and effectiveness of formal multilateral enforcement mechanisms, a growing number of international relations theorists and international lawyers have begun to argue that states' reputational concerns are actually the principal mechanism for maintaining a high level of treaty compliance. This essay argues that there are a number of empirical and theoretical reasons for believing that the actual effects of reputation are both weaker and more complicated than the standard view of reputation suggests. While states have reason to revise their estimates of a state's reputation following a defection or pattern of defections, they have reason to do so only in connection with those agreements that they believe are (1) affected by the same or similar sources of fluctuating compliance costs and (2) valued the same or less by the defecting state. Among the implications of this is that all but the newest states maintain multiple reputations. Copyright 2002 by the University of Chicago.

Suggested Citation

  • Downs, George W & Jones, Michael A, 2002. "Reputation, Compliance, and International Law," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 95-114, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlstud:v:31:y:2002:i:1:p:s95-114
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    Cited by:

    1. Dreher, Axel & Voigt, Stefan, 2011. "Does membership in international organizations increase governments' credibility? Testing the effects of delegating powers," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 326-348, September.
    2. Duy Vu, 2018. "Reasons not to Exit? A Survey of the Effectiveness and Spillover Effects of International Investment Arbitration," GREDEG Working Papers 2018-35, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    3. Julia Black, 2008. "Constructing and contesting legitimacy and accountability in polycentric regulatory regimes," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(2), pages 137-164, June.
    4. Jon Hovi & Arild Underdal & Hugh Ward, 2011. "Potential Contributions of Political Science to Environmental Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(3), pages 391-411, March.
    5. Barbara Koremenos, 2013. "What’s left out and why? Informal provisions in formal international law," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 137-162, June.
    6. Voigt, Stefan, 2020. "Mind the Gap – Analyzing the Divergence between Constitutional Text and Constitutional Reality," ILE Working Paper Series 32, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    7. George E. Mitchell & Sarah S. Stroup, 2017. "The reputations of NGOs: Peer evaluations of effectiveness," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 397-419, September.
    8. Lee, Jiwon & Wittgenstein, Teresa, 2017. "Weak vs. Strong Ties: Explaining Early Settlement in WTO Disputes," ILE Working Paper Series 7, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    9. Jan Witajewski-Baltvilks & Marek Antosiewicz & Andrzej Ceglarz & Haris Doukas & Alexandros Nikas & Jakub Sawulski & Aleksander Szpor & Baiba Witajewska-Baltvilka, 2018. "Risks associated with the decarbonisation of the Polish power sector," IBS Research Reports 05/2018, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    10. Jürg Vollenweider, 2013. "The effectiveness of international environmental agreements," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 343-367, September.
    11. Shidore, Sarang & Busby, Joshua W., 2019. "What explains India's embrace of solar? State-led energy transition in a developmental polity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1179-1189.
    12. Duy Vu, 2019. "Reasons not to exit? A survey of the effectiveness and spillover effects of international investment arbitration," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 291-319, April.
    13. Jon Hovi & Tora Skodvin, 2017. "Why the United States Supports International Enforcement for Some Treaties but not for Others," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(2), pages 79-92.
    14. Jasper Krommendijk, 2015. "The domestic effectiveness of international human rights monitoring in established democracies. The case of the UN human rights treaty bodies," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 489-512, December.
    15. Arandjelović, Ognjen, 2023. "A Case for `Killer Robots': Why in the Long Run Martial AI May Be Good for Peace," SocArXiv 9kja8, Center for Open Science.

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