Over the past forty-five years, bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have become the most important international legal mechanism for the encouragement and governance of foreign direct investment. Their proliferation over the past two decades in particular has been phenomenal. These intergovernmental treaties typically grant extensive rights to foreign investors, including protection of contrac...

Verification of current nuclear arms control treaties between United States and Russia relies primarily on the verification of delivery vehicles. Warheads are counted indirectly via the delivery vehicles that they are associated with. As states move to lower numbers of nuclear weapons in their arsenals, verification will likely pose complex challenges. Most importantly, future nuclear disarmame...

AIB Insights Vol. 16, No. 1 The negoTiaTion of several mega-TreaTies in 2015, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and other regional agreements, has generated substantial public discussion about the protections and privileges afforded to multinational enterpris...

The Opium Wars of 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860 marked a new stage in China’s relations with the West. China’s military defeats in these wars forced its rulers to sign treaties opening many ports to foreign trade. The restrictions imposed under the Canton system were abolished. Opium, despite imperial prohibitions, now became a regular item of trade. As opium flooded into China, its price dropp...

At the same time when outer space activities become increasingly important to states, the room for actions and new actors tends to get smaller and the risk that outer space becomes inaccessible is rising. Decisionmakers have recently taken the topic of space sustainability on their agenda, investigating policies to coordinate future actions. Nevertheless, they are ignoring the danger that alrea...

In my recent article, ‘Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?’, I presented evidence and arguments that called into doubt two widely shared assumptions: (1) that countries generally comply with their human rights treaty commitments and (2) that countries’ practices will be better if they have ratified treaties than they otherwise would be. In response, Professors Ryan Goodman and Derek Jin...

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In a previous study, it was found that 209 of 375 recognized American Indian treaties have been cited in opinions of the United States Supreme Court (Bernholz, 2004). This guide now identifies – through 246 citations from 142 cases between the years 1863 and 2005 – 85 treaties found only in opinions of the lower Federal Court system. In addition, this investigation uncovered another treaty refe...