THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
CATEGORIZING MULTILATERAL TREATIES BY SUBJECT
CHRISTINE M. GIULIANO
Spring 2010
A thesis
submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements
for a baccalaureate degree
in Accounting
with honors in Political Science
Reviewed and approved* by the following:
John K. Gamble
Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Law
Thesis Supervisor and Honors Adviser
Robert W. Speel
Associate Professor of Political Science
Second Reader
* Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College.
i
ABSTRACT
This thesis explores the issues surrounding topic (subject) categories of treaties (e.g.,
economic, environmental, and humanitarian) and their application. The focus is on multilateral
treaties and improving the topic categorization system in the Comprehensive Statistical Database
of Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT). First, approaches to categorizing bodies of information are
discussed, and then the categorization system of the CSDMT is explained, highlighting the
problems. Existing categorization systems from treaty compilations are examined, and a new
system for the CSDMT is detailed. After implementation of the new system, results are
presented followed by additional suggestions. Extensive graphs and data tables are provided.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1
Chapter 2. Previous CSDMT System……………………………………………………………..3
Figure 1: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3)………………………………….7
Figure 2: Previous CSDMT Mid Categories (Level 2)……………………………………8
Figure 3: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) by Laterality…………………...9
Figure 4: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) by Laterality………………….10
Figure 5: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) with IGO Involvement……….11
Figure 6: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) by Time Period……………….12
Figure 7: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) by Time Period…………….…13
Chapter 3. Existing Systems…………………………………………………………………..…14
3.1 United Nations (UN)…………………………………………………………………15
3.2 United States (US)……………………………………………………………….......17
3.3 Canada………………………………………………………………………………..18
3.4 Australia……………………………………………………………………………...19
3.5 EISEL………………………………………………………………………………...22
Chapter 4. Objectives and Approaches for Categorizing………………………………………...24
Chapter 5. New CSDMT System………………………………………………………………...26
5.1 Rules and Criteria……………………………………………………………………26
5.2 Type and Design of System………………………………………………………….28
5.3 Analysis Using the New System……………………………………………………..31
Figure 8: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories…………………………………………32
Figure 9: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Laterality…………………………..33
Figure 10: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Laterality…………………………33
Figure 11: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories with IGO Involvement………………34
Figure 12: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Time Period……………………....35
Figure 13: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Time Period……………………....36
Figure 14: CSDMT Broad (2) Categories………………………………………..37
Figure 15: CSDMT Broad (1) and Broad (2) Categories………………………..38
Chapter 6. Additional Suggestions and Conclusion……………………………………………..39
iii
References………………………………………………………………………………………..42
Appendix 1: Previous CSDMT Categorization System………………………………………….44
Appendix 2: Previous CSDMT Categorization System Sorted by Level 2……………………...50
Appendix 3: New CSDMT Categorization System……………………………………………...56
Appendix 4: Data Tables to All Graphs………………………………………………………….58
Endnotes………………………………………………………………………………………….61
1
Chapter 1. Introduction
As one of the main sources of international law, treaties are ubiquitous and deal with an
enormous range of subjects. Most treaties are bilateral, meaning between two parties, but
roughly 6,000 (about ten percent) of treaties are multilateral, those among at least three parties.
Treaties are enormously diverse ranging from unimportant technical dealings between/among
only a few countries while other treaties seek universal participation and may involve prominent
issues. 1 Scholars attempt an accurate assessment of what international law governs, its
effectiveness, and its impacts. Since treaties are one of the main sources of international law,
studying the issues they deal with would help this quest. Categorizing treaties by topics such as
economic, environmental, human rights, etc. is one way to understand the range and reach of
treaties. Although a considerable amount of work and research have been done about treaties,
the issues surrounding the categorization of treaties by topics have received relatively less
attention. Most studies about treaties deal with a subset or specific area such as environmental
law 2 rather than a study about all types of treaties. Therefore, a broad investigation of treaty
topics is important.
An underlying obstacle to studying international law as manifest in treaties is carefully
choosing how many and what kind of treaties to analyze. This is challenging for bilaterals
because there have been too many and finding them all is impossible. Attempts have been made
for multilaterals. Some are overall successful, but none have been able to find, view, and store
every text. That being said, this thesis focuses on studying topic categories of multilateral
treaties by using the Comprehensive Statistical Database of Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT) 3;
bilateral are excluded. The CSDMT contains selected information for nearly all known
multilateral treaties from the 1500s 4 to present day. However, some multilateral treaties that
2
have been signed in the past few years but not yet in force are not presently in the database along
with a few that may have eluded scholars. Although the CSDMT does not contain texts, it does
provide an extensive set of data taken from the text of each treaty.
The initial treaties in the CSDMT were identified from the Multilateral Treaty Calendar
1648-1995. 5 Beginning with the Peace of Westphalia 6, this book contains entries for nearly
every multilateral treaty signed before 1996. It is not a collection of texts; only selected
information is provided for each instrument. Each entry contains information such as signature
dates, entry into force dates, titles, treaty text location, and parties. The CSDMT is very similar
in concept but has gone far beyond the scope of the Calendar by adding new treaties, omitting
certain instruments, and locating each treaty to add new information (variables). The process of
putting treaties in the CSDMT involves finding the text, reading through it, and then pulling out
desired information; the term used is “coding” a treaty.
The CSDMT uses topic categories for each entry, but the categorization system needed
improvements; the goal here was to develop a new system. First, the previous CSDMT system is
described explaining why improvements were necessary. Then, other existing treaty
categorization systems are discussed; objectives and approaches for categorizing information are
explored; and a new system is designed and implemented followed by additional considerations.
3
Chapter 2. Previous CSDMT System
Because I have been actively involved in the CSDMT 7, the previous categorization
system is very transparent. The method was three-tiered meaning levels of categories getting
broader with each level. The first level contains fairly specific categories while the second
contains broader topics, and the third has the broadest topics. The first, second, and third levels
have 268, 17, and seven category choices, respectively. However, a chart is used that contains
predetermined second and third level choices; the categories come in sets of three. Topics were
assigned to each treaty in the database by first choosing an appropriate first level category from
the list (chart). The second and third level categories were simply chosen by horizontally
following the chart and using what was already there; no guesswork was required for the second
and third levels. The chart is provided in Appendix 1.
The first level terms were taken from the Calendar 8 which gives every instrument a
subject category. For treaties both in the Calendar and the CSDMT, first level subject categories
match those in the Calendar; they are the same. For those treaties in the CSDMT but not the
Calendar, first level terms were chosen from the list. Initially, this was the extent of the
categorization system used in the CSDMT. Later on, though, students added the second and
third levels to the categorization system. While the idea of a tiered system was good, the
execution was flawed both in design and implementation. The subject terms taken from the
Calendar are often inconsistent and the creation of the second and third level terms was not wellplanned. Furthermore, treaties in the CSDMT but not the Calendar were assigned subject
categories somewhat haphazardly and often were “forced” into categories that fail to represent a
treaty’s aim(s).
In understanding the above-stated problems, the starting point is the first level terms
4
taken from the Calendar. The obvious question of where these terms came from is not fully
answered:
The subjects assigned follow those used by the U.S. State Dept., Treaty Office,
slightly modified, by subjects employed by the United Nations in its treaty
publications. Additional subjects are assigned when needed. Treaties dealing
with international organizations are listed preferably under the subject of the
organization’s main activity, except for those of general nature, such as the United
Nations and specialized agencies, which are classified under “International
Organizations.” 9
Although the Calendar does not give the specific publications used, the subjects from Treaties in
Force (TIF) 10 and the subject matters on the previous United Nations (UN) Web site search tab 11
were compared to the Calendar’s subjects. Depending on how strictly the phrase “slightly
modified” (above) is applied, approximately 150 of the 268 subjects in the Calendar are either
verbatim or modified from TIF and the UN. About half came from the US and/or UN.
These subjects contain two types of inconsistencies: 1) terms are not “on the same level”
regarding specificity and 2) similar terms create confusion. The first inconsistency is easily
explained by using an obvious example from the list. The first level contains “Cocoa,” “Coffee,”
“Sugar,” “Tea,” “Agricultural Commodities,” and “Commodities.” These terms are not “at the
same level” because cocoa, coffee, sugar, etc. are all in fact commodities. Besides commodities,
another example of this overlap is “Animals,” “Birds,”, “Nature”, and “Wildlife Preservation.”
The second inconsistency was a more pervasive problem. For instance, here are the titles
of five subjects: “Economic and Social Development”, “Economic and Technical Development”,
“Economic Assistance and Development”, “Economic Cooperation”, and “Economic
Integration.” If trying to use a subject, how would one choose among these, especially deciding
5
between “Economic and Social Development” and “Economic Assistance and Development”?
Another example is “Peace,”, “Peaceful Relations,” and “Peacekeeping.” Without an enormous
amount of work, deciphering this terminology is impossible.
Another issue with the first level terms is that they have not been applied consistently
when it comes to treaties that are in both the Calendar and the CSDMT and treaties in the
CSDMT but not the Calendar. For example, the Anti-doping Convention 12 is in both the
Calendar and the CSDMT. It was assigned the subject category of “Sports.” The Amendment to
the Appendix of the Anti-doping Convention 13, however, is one of the treaties in the CSDMT
that was signed after the Calendar’s publication. It was assigned the subject category of
“Drugs.” Looking at both of these treaties reveals that they have a very similar subject matter;
the Appendix basically lists specific, prohibited substances. It would make much more sense if
they had the same topic category.
The CSDMT appears to have developed the second and third level categories somewhat
haphazardly. Aside from the design flaw of creating a system where the second and third levels
are “predetermined,”—meaning the chart must be followed and the second and third level terms
to the right of the chosen first level term are used—many of the second and third level terms are
repetitive. The idea behind the second and third levels was to offer categories that would show in
broader terms what multilateral treaties deal with as compared to the specific, narrow terms of
the first level. The second level would be broader than the first, and the third level would be the
broadest of all. This would allow for analysis of the broad topics of multilateral treaties.
However, the repetition reduces the value of this approach.
Examples of this repetition include the fact that all treaties with “Environment” for the
second level category also have “Environment” as the third level. Another example is that
6
treaties with “Cultural Matters” for the second level have “Cultural” as the third level; no other
treaties have “Cultural” for the broadest level. There are many more examples, but one in
particular deals with repetition of terms between levels one and two instead of two and three:
“Commodities” is used in both levels one and two. Appendix 2 provides a list of the previous
CSDMT categorization system sorted by the second level; just glancing at this sorted list reveals
the repetition.
Analysis of the third level (broadest categories) was conducted prior to changing the
above-described system. Graphs were made to illustrate the different types of information that
can be found by assigning and labeling treaties with topic categories. Before illustrating these
issues via the graphs, a few preliminary issues must be discussed.
While the CSDMT contains nearly all multilateral treaties, some of the entries are not
actually multilateral treaties. In order for an instrument to be a multilateral treaty, it must meet
these criteria: 1) have three or more parties, 2) be in force, and 3) have the binding legality of a
treaty. A trend in treaty-making is Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) 14 themselves being
parties, meaning that IGOs have legal personality. However, their legal personality was not
always recognized. 15 So, for treaties with one state as a party and an IGO as the other, there can
be a disagreement as to whether the IGO itself is a party or if the states comprising the IGO are
the parties. If in fact the IGO itself is a party, the treaty is considered bilateral. Treaties like this
are excluded from the data used for analyzing/making graphs. 16
If a treaty is not in force, then obviously it should not be counted. 17 Sometimes, it is not
clear whether or not a treaty has entered into force. For this reason, the CSDMT considers
treaties in force if no other information is provided. This is further complicated by the fact that
some treaties in the CSDMT are “lapsed,” meaning they were once in force. Treaties not in
7
force are not included in data for analysis purposes except “lapsed” ones because they were once
in force.
Some entries in the CSDMT are certainly multilateral but not actual treaties. The best
way to explain this is to use an example: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). 18
The UDHR is not legally a multilateral treaty. It is just a declaration, not a treaty. Other
common names used for instruments that do not rise to the level of treaties are resolutions, joint
statements, and joint policies. These also are excluded. Thus, the data set used to create the
following graphs excludes any entries in the CSDMT that are not multilateral, in force (with the
“lapsed” exception), or actual treaties.
The graph below is a simple pie chart showing the distribution of the broad categories
(Level 3) in the CSDMT. Perhaps the most significant item here is that economic multilateral
treaties account for over 40% of all multilateral treaties.
Figure 1: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 1)
Cultural
2%
Political/Diplomatic
28%
Economic
43%
Other
8%
Military
5%
Humanitarian
8%
Environment
6%
8
The second graph is another pie chart but is of the mid-level categories (Level 2). It is
more difficult to interpret due to a more cluttered graph. When considering this graph with the
one above, some of the problems with the previous CSDMT categorization system are evident.
For example, in the above-graph, “Humanitarian” treaties account for eight percent. However, in
the mid-level graph (below) “Humanitarian” accounts for only six percent. One might assume
that “Humanitarian” is the same in both category levels. While they both refer to treaties with
similar goals, the tiered system means that some treaties with something other than
“Humanitarian” in the mid-level are “Humanitarian” in the broad level. This is not surprising,
but the graphs reveal how confusing it can be.
Figure 2: Previous CSDMT Mid Categories (Level 2)
Commodities
Cultural Matters
4%
1%
Diplomatic Matters
6%
Territory
3%
Transportation and
Communication
16%
Space
1%
Science
2%
Other
6%
Economics/Trade
21%
Military
5%
Maritime/Ocean
Legal Relations
Matters
13%
7%
Intellectual Property
1%
Environment
2%
Foreign
Aid/Assistance
3%
Humanitarian
Health
6%
2%
9
The next two graphs introduce another variable: laterality. Laterality refers to whether a
multilateral treaty is general or plurilateral. General treaties aim for universal participation while
plurilateral treaties restrict participation through subject matter, geography, or both. Usually the
determination of “general” or “plurilateral” is clear. The graphs show the broad categories
(Level 3) in relation to laterality. The difference is that the first shows this relationship in terms
of quantity while the second presents the information in percentage terms. Most mulitlaterals are
plurilateral. It is no surprise that most of the categories contain more plurilateral treaties than
general with a striking exception in the core at “Humanitarian” treaties (about 55% of these are
general).
Figure 3: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3)
by Laterality
2500
2000
1500
1000
General
Plurilateral
500
0
10
Figure 4: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3)
by Laterality
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Plurilateral
General
The graph below also uses another variable in connection to the broad categories (Level
3): the IGO variable. The CSDMT has a variable entitled “IGO” to keep track of multilateral
treaties and their connections to intergovernmental organizations. The IGO variable currently
has three values (or choices): “creates,” “mod/dest,” and “no relation.” IGOs are created by
multilateral treaties. A treaty that creates an IGO would be labeled as “creates.” The meaning of
“mod/dest” has been inconsistently applied. The current understanding is that these treaties
either modify an IGO or are an action by an IGO. “Dest” was used to mean discontinuing an
IGO. “No relation” is a little misleading as many treaties have some indirect relation or mention
of an IGO, especially the UN. So, this variable is in some ways chosen by elimination; if a treaty
does not create, modify, or is not a direct action by an IGO, it is labeled as “no relation.”
Because of the confusion with this variable, the graph does not distinguish among all three
values; the graph accounts for treaties that have direct involvement of some sort. The pie chart
11
represents the distribution of broad categories (Level 3) of only treaties with IGO involvement.
In other words, any treaty labeled as “no relation” for the IGO variable is excluded from the
graph.
Figure 5: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3)
with IGO Involvement
Cultural
1%
Political/Diplomatic
39%
Other
10%
Military
3%
Economic
39%
Environment
Humanitarian 3%
5%
The next graph displays broad categories (Level 3) with respect to time periods. Because
there were very few multilateral treaties from 1500 to the beginning of the twentieth century,
those treaties are in one time period and even time periods do not begin until 1900 and are in 20year increments. Data for years 2000 through 2007 is incomplete but still shown on the graph.
The CSDMT is still “playing catch up” to the current year, and treaties are only added when
made available by the UN. Typically, this done via the UN’s Web site, but there is a time lag
from when a multilateral treaty enters into force and is either on the UN’s Web site or is
published in UNTS. One important trend highlighted in this graph is the fact that multilateral
treaty-making increased during the middle of the twentieth century but has since declined
slightly thereafter.
12
Figure 6: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3)
by Time Period
1800
1600
1400
1200
Political/Diplomatic
1000
Other
Military
Humanitarian
800
Environment
Economic
Cultural
600
400
200
0
1500-1899
1900-1919
1920-1939
1940-1959
1960-1979
1980-1999
2000-2007
13
The last graph also uses time periods with broad categories (Level 3). However,
categories within each time period as viewed in percentage terms rather than actual numbers of
treaties. Two findings are especially clear from the graph: 1) the percentage of
political/diplomatic treaties in each time period has generally declined over time and 2) the
percentage of economic treaties in each time period has remained relatively the same, especially
since 1920 (similar to the trend for cultural treaties).
Figure 7: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3)
by Time Period
100%
90%
80%
70%
Political/Diplomatic
60%
Other
Military
50%
Humanitarian
Environment
40%
Economic
Cultural
30%
20%
10%
0%
1500-1899 1900-1919 1920-1939 1940-1959 1960-1979 1980-1999 2000-2007
14
Chapter 3. Existing Systems
Before designing a new topic categorization system, existing treaty compilations that use
topic categories were reviewed to find different ways/methods of categorizing treaties by topics.
This examination revealed that current methods for assigning topic categories are difficult to
assess and usually inadequate. Compilations are neither descriptive nor transparent about the
origin of topic categories and how values are assigned. They demonstrate problems with topic
categorization. An important point to keep in mind, though, is that the purpose of categories in
treaty compilations is mainly to find treaties, not understanding the subject contours of
international law.
As mentioned in the Introduction (Chapter 1), understanding international law through
treaties is difficult because one must be certain you are dealing with a representative sample of
treaties. There are too many bilaterals but the task for multilaterals is manageable. That being
said, the most comprehensive compilation of treaties, both bilateral and multilateral, is the
United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS). Treaty series typically contain texts, but other
compilations only have selected information such as head note, signature date, and entry into
force. In other words, some efforts are little more than lists of treaties and dates. There are also
publication and research centers that contain detailed information about a subset of treaties, e.g.,
environmental treaties. The term “treaty compilation” is used generally herein and refers to
publications, whether print or Web based, which compile treaties and/or information about
treaties.
3.1 United Nations (UN)
The UN uses categories for treaties, but understanding the approach can be confusing.
The primary treaty publication for the UN is the above-mentioned United Nations Treaty Series
15
UNTS, which comes in volumes. Treaties tend to be arranged in each volume by the date of
registration or publication. While each treaty is not explicitly labeled with a topic category in the
UNTS itself, the UN has other publications that use topic categories. 19 In addition, its online
database offers a search function that uses subjects (categories).
The most recent and available online version of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the
Secretary-General (MTDSG) is dated 2006. 20 This provides status information such as force
date and parties as well as the text of reservations, declarations, and objections for all multilateral
treaties deposited with the Secretary-General. The two-volume publication comes divided into
two parts. Volume I contains Part I and Volume II contains the remainder of Part I and Part II in
its entirety. Part I is divided into chapters that are given a topic, or theme. Part II is comprised
of information from the last League of Nations status-type publication. 21 There is also an Index
guide that lists topics alphabetically with chapter references. These topics include both the
chapter titles (or modified chapter titles) and a more expansive, specific list. 22 For example,
“Navigation” is the title for Chapter XII and listed in the index.23 Sometimes the chapter title is
shortened in the index such as Chapter XVII title “Freedom of Information” and index category
“Information.” 24 Chapter IV’s title is “Human Rights”; while this is also listed in the index, so is
“Death Penalty”, which is not a chapter title but the reference given is Chapter IV. 25 “Death
penalty” is viewed as a more specific area under “Human Rights.”
The Treaty Series Cumulative Index 26 does not contain texts and comes in volumes, but
unlike the MTDSG, it also includes bilateral treaties. The first part of the index is arranged
chronologically while the second part is arranged by topic category (alphabetically). 27 The topic
categories used, or subjects, are similar to those in MTDSG. “Administration” is used in the
Cumulative Index but not MTDSG. 28
16
Besides these indexes, one can search UNTS online using topic categories. However, as
mentioned, the UN has recently updated its Web site. So, the “old way” of using UNTS online is
still available but referred to as the UNTS legacy database. 29 Unlike its new Web site, this offers
a drop down list of subject matters on the “Advanced Search” tab. 30 This tab also includes
regions of the world and participants/states. Not only do the categories in the MTDSG fail to
match those in the Cumulative Index, but also Web search subject matters do not match either of
them.
This survey of UN publications using topics reveals that even the UN appears to have no
single list of categories. The subjects used on the Web site itself appear to be fairly similar to
those in the Cumulative Index, but the inconsistencies among these three UN sources are
numerous. The list of participants/states on the Web search matches some of the categories in
the Cumulative Index, but these are only used for bilaterals. However, that does not mean that all
bilaterals in the Cumulative Index have a state name for the category; some do in fact use an
actual topic.
I could find nothing explaining how treaties were labeled. Why is the Convention on the
Recovery Abroad of Maintenance 31 labeled under “Maintenance Obligations” in the MTDSG 32
and “Family Matters” in the Cumulative Index 33? Most of the time, the assigned topics appear to
follow the head note (in both publications), but this example shows this “rule” does not always
apply.
Another problem with the UN’s categories is that the terms themselves are not “at the
same level.” Some terms are very specific while others are quite broad. Terms like
“Commodities” 34, “Agricultural Commodities” 35, and “Rice” 36 are used. What if one “Rice”
treaty gets labeled as such but another is labeled under “Commodities”? Besides this type of
17
“not at the same level” there is also the use of topics such as “Cultural matters” 37 and “Dairy
farming.” 38 “Cultural matters” is a broad term, and “Dairy farming” is very specific.
The UN’s system (if it can be called that) can be tested, and when tested, it usually falls
short. Suppose one is looking for the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights 39 and does not know when it was signed, entered into force, or the UN registration
number. The “Advanced Search” tab offers the ability to search using subject matters. When
browsing the list of 210 subject matters, the first applicable subject is “Cultural matters.”
Continuing down the list are “Development”, “Economic matters”, “Human rights”, and “Social
matters.” Now, after becoming thoroughly confused and forgetting what some of the first
applicable terms were, which subject matter should be used? After becoming more frustrated,
one just picks something and probably the last subject matter viewed― maybe “Social matters.”
Although the dates are unknown, “International Covenant” is typed in the keyword/phrase box to
narrow the search. Common results are either “No Records Found” or a large list of
instruments. 40 There are tricks to using the search tool, but the point is that user-friendliness
should be improved.
3.2 United States (US)
The US system is challenging to dissect because over the years, the Government Printing
Office has used at least three different overlapping publications. Basically, Statutes at Large of
the United States of America contains treaties prior to 1950 (beginning around 1875), United
States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST) has treaties from 1950 to 1984, and
the Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) was first published in pamphlet form in
1946 but extends beyond UST’s coverage. 41 TIAS has more coverage than the other two
publications and is the focus here.
18
TIAS is not as comprehensive as the UN because the purpose is different. TIAS
attempts to collect all treaties to which the US is party. Like the UN, this series does not use
categories but has a corresponding publication that does, Treaties in Force (TIF) published by
the US Department of State. 42 TIF is published each year in two sections; section one contains
information about bilaterals and section two has information about multilaterals. Information
includes head notes, dates, and parties as well as references to the location of the full text. The
bilateral section is arranged first by country and then by subject headings under each country.
The multilateral section is arranged by subject headings only. 43 Not all subjects found in the
bilateral section also appear in the multilateral section e.g., “Peace Corps” 44 that is used for
bilaterals but not multilaterals. Overall though, the subjects in both sections appear to be
generally comparable.
The issues and inconsistencies with a system like this are similar to that of the UN’s use
of topic categories. Not only is there no single list of categories, but the issue of “different
levels” of terms is a major problem. In fact, many of the terms themselves are identical to UN
subject matters or slight modifications. Most topic categories are words used in the head notes.
3.3 Canada
The Canadian system is similar both to the UN and US systems. Coverage is limited like
the US because the goal is to “table” all treaties Canada has entered into. Like the UN, the
Canadian system does not appear to use topics explicitly. However, I do not have access to the
Canadian Treaty Series (CTS). The print version of CTS may use categories. The Canada
Treaty Information Web site 45 does use subjects and keywords in search boxes. This site
provides some information about CTS and allows searching CTS in a limited sense. Sometimes,
treaties can be viewed from the Web site. Other times, only references to the print source along
19
with information such as dates and parties are provided; there is no direct access to the texts.
The search function is divided into four links allowing searches of “All”, “Bilateral”,
“Multilateral”, and “Plurilateral”, respectively. 46 The “All” link and “Multilateral” link use the
same subjects and keywords. There are 152 subjects and 61 keywords. The “Bilateral” and
“Plurilateral” links use a list of countries and international organizations in addition to the list of
subjects found on the “All” and “Multilateral” links. Since the subjects and keywords are
available on the “All” link, they are the focus here. The use of an additional keywords list is
confusing because the list appears to be common names of well-known multilateral conventions
and additional subjects. Examples include “CITES” 47, “Geneva conventions” 48, “Atomic
Energy”, and “Plants”.
The issues with these categories are similar to those posed by the UN and US systems.
Some terms are specific while others are far broader: “Alaska Highway” and “Culture.” Another
issue that can be detrimental to a categorization system is the use of extremely similar terms.
Two examples include “Health” and “Health and Sanitation” and “Investment insurance” and
“Investment protection.”
Using the system produced problems with consistency such as those to using the UN’s
search function in the UNTS legacy database. However, it is somewhat better than the UN,
possibly because there is a smaller pool of information for the system to search. Like the UN,
there is a drop down list of subjects and a place to type in a search term. 49
3.4 Australia
The Australian Treaties Series (ATS) is available online and lists treaties entered into by
Australia. 50 The Web site allows users to browse “By Country”, “By Subject”, “By Short Title”,
and “By Year”. 51 The full text can be viewed for most instruments. If not, some basic
20
information is offered. There are 21 subjects to search by. Some are compound categories like
“Business & Finance” and “Environment & Resources.” Clicking on one of the 21 subject links
yields a screen offering more specific subject choices under the one chosen. For example,
clicking on “Business & Finance” results in a list of 13 more subjects, two of which are
“Antitrust” and “Taxation.”
While there is no in-depth explanation of the origin of these categories, the Web site does
provide information about treaties in general and does ask and answer the question “What
subjects are covered by Treaties?” The answer provided is as follows:
In recent decades, the issues subject to treaties have expanded. Australia is a Party
to agreements on postal, shipping and social security and health arrangements,
defence and security, nuclear non-proliferation, the environment, civil aviation,
maritime delimitation, technological exchanges, and agreements designed to
establish universal standards in relation to the treatment of civilians in time of
war. Australia has also invested considerable energy into outlawing the use of
weapons of mass destruction, and into various aspects of law of the sea and the
international trading system. The need for global rules on the protection and
promotion of human rights, education, the environment, wildlife and the world's
cultural and natural heritage is now widely accepted. Most recently, the
establishment of effective international regimes to combat criminal activity which
does not respect national borders, including terrorism, has taken on a new
urgency. 52
This suggests the derivation of Australia’s subjects but more importantly that the list has been
altered to reflect the evolving practice of Australia. The Web site has a search function, but it is
a textual query. 53 Unlike the UN and Canadian systems, there is no ability to search by picking a
subject from a given list. A word or phrase must be entered. If searching for a treaty that covers
an atypical area, this might work fairly well. However, entering “economic” results in over 1500
21
documents. 54 Comparing the Australian system to the UN and Canadian systems is a little
complicated because there is no drop down list of subjects; instead, typing a head note in the
textbox (or a portion of a head note) and altogether skipping a search by categories could be
done.
3.5 Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL)
The Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL) Web site 55 was created
by the American Society of International Law (ASIL) with this goal:
…to ensure , through EISIL, that web searchers can easily locate the highest
quality primary materials, authoritative web sites and helpful research guides to
international law on the Internet. To this end, EISIL has been designed as an open
database of authenticated primary and other materials across the breadth of
international law, which until now have been scattered in libraries, archives and
specialized web sites. 56
EISIL offers a variety of resources including access to treaty texts, links to reliable Web sites
about international law, links to scholarly organizations and educational institutions, etc. That
being said, though, the most common resource offered is treaty texts. The Web site is organized
by topic (subject) categories of international law; these topics are all shown on the homepage. 57
The topics are further broken down into subtopics and contain links to the various resources
available. For example, clicking on “International Environmental Law” on EISIL’s homepage
displays subtopics of International Environmental Law 58 as well as including a link for “Basic
Sources.” 59 Clicking on one of these subtopics shows a list of primary documents and links to
other Web sites about the subtopic. The primary documents listed are typically treaties which
appear to be only multilaterals, not bilaterals. 60
22
EISIL was clearly designed with practicality in mind. In order to develop the topics,
subtopics and determine which treaties, documents, and other resources to place under the topics,
ASIL first looked to a number of existing categorization schemes for international including
British Yearbook of International Law and the Library of Congress’ classification system. 61
After developing a framework, ASIL sent out its draft to international law scholars, 22 people
total including information professionals and those in academia. 62 These people were asked to
provide comments and suggestions after testing the system; the system was then revised and
finalized.
This design process allowed ASIL to develop a practical scheme that is easy to use.
EISIL’s strength is not its breadth but rather its logical organization of treaties and resources.
Finding a particular treaty on EISIL is fairly easy. Unlike other compilations that I reviewed,
EISIL employs a top-down approach, not bottom-up. EISIL assumes that users are looking for
information about a particular area of international law which would include treaties within that
area. The bottom-up approach, on the other hand, is trying to find a particular treaty and
guessing what subject category the treaty would fall under. To imitate some of the “testing” I
conducted with the other compilations, I went ahead and attempted the bottom-up approach.
Because I knew that the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution 63 is
available on EISIL, I used this as the test treaty. With the topics offered on the EISIL
homepage, 64 the obvious place to start is looking under International Environmental Law. After
entering the International Environmental Law page and glancing at the subtopics, 65 three
subtopics jump out as possible classifications for the Convention 66: “Transboundary
Cooperation,” “Protection of the Atmosphere,” and “Pollution.” The other treaty compilations
had a “one-to-one relationship” between a treaty and a topic (subject) category. EISIL, though,
23
has a “one-to-many relationship.” All three subtopics have the Convention 67 listed. This
demonstrates the main advantage to system like EISIL; the same treaty is found under several
applicable categories, allowing for maximum search capability and ease of use.
24
Chapter 4. Objectives and Approaches for Categorizing
The most common reason for categorizing information is to help people find things.
Often such sciences pay little attention to a precise “mapping” of a domain of information.
Think of a library; the idea is to categorize the various resources so that many people can find
whatever they seek. This might not produce an accurate “mapping” of information but achieves
the search objective of categorizing information. These two objectives, “mapping” and
searching, certainly overlap. For the CSDMT, combining the two is the overall goal. If only the
search objective is the goal for categorizing treaties, the method would likely be based on
explicit terms in the head notes. The danger here, though, is that head notes are not always
clearly descriptive of the treaties’ aspirations. An accurate “map” of the “forest of treaties” 68
would be difficult to achieve. Using only the other objective, “accurate mapping,” is equally
dangerous. When working with the CSDMT, we often search and sort the database by
categories. Categorizing without regard to the search objective would make working with the
CSDMT more challenging for users. For these reasons, the new system must reflect the
“forest” 69 and allow for searching.
Among the treaty series studied with the exception of EISIL, there is nothing explicit
written about 1) where the categories came from, 2) if there is one list that is used, and 3) how
treaties are placed into their respective categories. The first and second items deal with what
approach is used for categorizing treaties. In one approach, no predetermined list of categories is
used, and in another approach, a list of categories to choose from is available while categorizing.
In other words, when categorizing, does one anticipate categories in advance or simply create
them as needed?
The first approach would result in a hodgepodge of categories that is virtually unusable.
25
The second type of approach would work better, but avoiding the tendency to force treaties into
categories is crucial. That would produce major distortions if one’s goal is to understand a
domain of information. The likely scenario is that most treaty series using topics began with a
set list but have added to their lists and continue to do so; this is confirmed by the Australian
system that admits “the issues subject to treaties have expanded.” 70
The third item noted above deals with a central issue: is the full text of a treaty needed to
properly categorize it? In many cases, the topic categories appear to be terms found in the head
notes of the treaties. This can be difficult when the head note seems to extend to more than one
subject. However, head notes normally are fairly accurate of treaty content permitting
reasonable judgments about topic categories. Further, a simple way to ensure that users can find
the treaties they are looking for is employing a categorization system based on words explicitly
in the head notes of treaties. For these reasons, if the full text is unavailable, using the head note
along with other information about the treaty often is sufficient for categorization. If we accept
this assumption, the CSDMT offers a good opportunity to create a categorization system (in this
case, a new one). Of course the CSDMT includes only multilaterals, but looking at different
series revealed that generally, labeling bilaterals by the party names is common—an approach
that, by definition, is much more difficult. That is not to say categorizing bilaterals by topic is
unimportant or that a method for categorizing multilaterals could not be used for bilaterals.
Rather, the focus here is multilateral treaty-making. This decision was made because we could
find virtually all multilateral treaties; there are no sampling problems.
26
Chapter 5. Designing the New CSDMT System
5.1 Rules and Criteria
A few “ground rules” for a system must be made explicit. A list of categories is needed
and full texts are nice but not essential. Common sense dictates a few other rules. A system,
process, or method for labeling treaties with topic categories must possess accuracy, replication,
consistency, feasibility, and utility. Accuracy largely deals with problems of definition. How
does one decide just what an economic or environmental treaty is? The method itself must
recognize and/or apply definitions that accurately reflect treaty content. Even if a method uses
accurate definitions, replication is essential. The method must allow for multiple users who can
correctly and consistently categorize treaties under the system.
Consistency is important both in the categories used and how the method itself is applied.
Whether or not a system is tiered, category terms must be “at the same level.” If the system is
tiered with specificity level changing, the terms within each tier should follow that idea. An
argument can be made that some inconsistencies among terms “at the same level” can be
tolerated. Suppose a system is not tiered and uses the category titles “Commodities”, “Sugar”,
and “Coffee.” While sugar and coffee are certainly commodities, the category “Commodities”
could be used for all commodities except sugar and coffee. This would work only if the
categories are consistently applied, meaning that all sugar and coffee treaties are categorized
respectively and do not accidentally get placed under “Commodities.”
For some treaties, deciding between two topic categories is difficult and although mutual
exclusivity does not perfectly reflect reality, mutually exclusive systems have clear advantages.
Mutual exclusivity means that a treaty can only be labeled with a single topic category (if a
tiered system is being used, then a single topic category within each level). A treaty might seem
27
to fall under both environmental and economic categories. A mutually exclusive system
demands choosing between the two, but how? What happens when two similar treaties are
coded, perhaps by different coders years apart? The hypothetical treaties are likely to be labeled
differently, one as environmental and the other as economic. A mutually exclusive system
sounds great but how can it be applied uniformly?
Accuracy and feasibility often do not coexist. Time constraints may not permit the
development of the most accurate and reliable system. Some treaty compilations use subjects to
find treaties and/or group similar ones. Using treaty subjects to understand international law is a
different matter. Consider the UN’s system and the example about Maintenance. 71 Although
labeling the treaty under “Family matters” was appropriate, using “Maintenance Obligations”
made much more sense; it is both representative of what the treaty deals with and more userfriendly for search purposes. Functionality is another argument for using head notes, if need be,
to categorize. While selecting a category from the head note is not always easy (as demonstrated
in the UN search test), a system that accurately categorizes treaties but does not sacrifice the
search function is possible.
Now that some general guidelines have been established, the next step is designing a
system and developing a list of categories. In creating this list, one must decide on the contours
of the system. Should the system be tiered? Should the system be mutually exclusive? What
about a system that uses primary and secondary categories? A treaty may be primarily
environmental but still have a substantial economic element (secondary category).
28
5.2 Type and Design of System
Because the CSDMT has thus far used a tiered system and those working on the database
are familiar with this design, the new system also is tiered. A tiered system facilitates both
searching and broad analysis of categories of multilateral treaties. There are three differences
between the old tiered system and the proposed one: 1) no “predetermined” sets of categories, 2)
only two tiers, not three, and 3) a second broad category can be used. The new system is
comprised of two tiers, one narrow list of topic categories and one broad. The categories do not
come in sets; first a narrow term is picked from the list and then a broad term. This remedies the
issue of having to use certain broad terms with certain specific (narrow) terms. For example, if a
treaty is considered a “Fisheries” treaty, the old system required that the broad category is
“Environment.” 72 What if, though, the treaty is clearly “Economic?” The new system allows
“Economic” to be chosen instead of “Environment.”
The new system also allows a treaty that cannot be placed under one broad category to
placed under a second one as an attempt to deal with mutual exclusivity. If a treaty appears to be
both “Economic” and “Environmental,” then both broad terms can be chosen. The Agreement
for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission73 demonstrates this. Under the old
system, this treaty was labeled as “Fisheries” for the narrow-type term and “Environment” for
the broad term. Now, though, it is labeled as both “Economic” and “Environmental.” The
preamble of this treaty shows why this treaty cannot be placed only under one of these
categories:
Recognizing the desirability of promoting the peaceful uses of the seas and
oceans, and the equitable and efficient utilization and conservation of their living
resources,
Desiring to contribute to the realization of a just and equitable international
29
economic order…the special interests of developing countries in the Indian Ocean
Region to benefit equitably from the fishery resources,… 74
A critical fact about the Broad (1) and Broad (2) terms must be understood. The new
system does not account for whether a treaty is primarily a Broad (1) and secondarily a Broad
(2). In the example above, we are not saying the treaty is more economic than environmental or
vice versa. Allowing two broad terms to be used for treaties simply shows reality and is not
intended to really “dig in” and solve mutual exclusivities unrealistic demands.
The first place to begin when designing the new system was creating a list of the broad
categories. Examining not only broad terms used in treaty series but also treatises of
international law suggest the broadest areas covered by treaties. EISIL (above) was also helpful.
I only looked at a few books 75 compared to what is out there and focused on tables of contents to
determine major areas. The books were similar in set up. Two of the 11 were bibliographies 76,
listing resources for areas of international law. These books were similar to the others in
sections. A general outline for books about international law is an introduction defining
international law; discussion of sources and, if not in the text, reference to Article 38 of the ICJ
Statute 77; history and origins of international law; international law compared to municipal law;
separate section about treaties; several sections about major areas international law governs; and
concluding thoughts about impacts, challenges, and/or the future of international law.
The books vary the most in the coverage of the major subfields of international law, but
there were similarities. The age of the books based on publication date ranges from 1978 to
2007. Overall, the most common sections are law of war/use of force, human rights, economic,
settlement of disputes, jurisdiction, and environment. Older books have somewhat different
sections; sections devoted entirely to the environment are a modern phenomenon.
30
While these books deal with international law as a whole, the World Treaty Index 78 and
Treaty Profiles 79 by Rohn deal exclusively with treaties. Rohn stated that five categories exist:
administrative and diplomatic, social cooperation, economic cooperation, aid, and military. 80
However, he admitted that these categories were unable to accommodate every treaty because
administrative and diplomatic tended to become a catchall for treaties that had no obvious
“home.” 81 Rohn’s main categories are part of a tiered system because he showed how these
topics subdivide into more specific ones. 82 The problem with Rohn’s top five is that Treaty
Profiles only covers bilaterals signed between 1946 and 1965 found in the World Treaty
Indexes. 83 This subset excludes multilaterals, this paper’s focus, and is outdated.
After considering the old system’s broad list, the above-resources, EISIL’s broad
categories, 84 and consulting with an international law academic, 85 the broad list was developed
which is shown in Appendix 3. From here, a list of narrow terms was created by using the old
system’s list and combining and condensing terms where appropriate. This lengthy process
required looking at the head notes and texts of some treaties to determine just what some of the
terminology meant. A few examples are “Hydrography” and “Navigation” and specific
commodities and “Commodities.” The old system used “Hydrography” as one of the narrow
terms. I looked at these treaties and found that their purpose was improved navigation. 86 So,
these treaties are now under “Navigation” in the new system and “Hydrography” is not used.
Many specific commodities were used as terms in the old system such as “Sugar,” “Coffee,”
“Bananas,” etc. These have all been condensed under “Commodities” in the new system.
Once the new list of narrow terms was created, every treaty in the CSDMT was
recategorized with the new system. In many cases, portions of the treaty texts were used to
determine categories, mainly the preambles. The preambles are good indicators of broad
31
aspirations of the treaties. There are some treaties in the CSDMT that we no longer have access
to without traveling or requesting materials. The head notes were used in these cases due to time
constraints.
The recategorization process was not always smooth. During recategorization, problems
arose. The new lists of narrow and broad terms were created without looking at all head notes
and/or preambles. Problems such as not having an appropriate category on the new list were
tracked, recorded, and dealt with after initial recategorization. After this, the lists of narrow and
broad terms were tweaked and then finalized. See Appendix 3 for the new, finalized lists. There
are 125 Narrow terms and eight Broad terms.
The new system is not perfect but certainly an improvement from the old one. There are
still some problems with specificity between the tiers because of the “least common
denominator” issue. Some treaties deal with broad items and the head notes and/or texts do not
provide many specifics. Fitting these treaties under a narrow term that is in fact narrow is
impossible. For example, there are several treaties that are labeled with the Narrow term
“Human Rights” and the Broad (1) term “Human rights/humanitarian.” These terms seem
redundant but are necessary because “Human Rights” is the “least common denominator”; there
are no other terms to use. Labeling the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms 87 anything but “Human Rights” for the narrow term would not make
sense.
5.3 Analysis Using the New System
After the CSDMT was recategorized, graphs were made to illustrate the results.
Generally these follow the format of the previous system in Chapter 2. The differences are that
the broad terms have changed, and the mid-level terms no longer exist. The graphs were made in
32
the same way, i.e. by omitting any entries in the database that do not meet the accepted
description of a multilateral treaty. The graphs show the same information but with the new
Broad (1) categories. Overall, there were only slight changes in the distributions. Two notable
changes are between Figures 5 and 11 and Figures 7 and 13. The percentage of treaties with
IGO involvement under the old system was 39%; the new system shows this as 22% (Figures 5
and 11). Obviously, many of these were moved into other categories as the percentages for
economic and human rights increased and new categories were added. In Figure 7, the
percentage of economic treaties remained relatively constant over all time periods. However,
Figure 13 shows more fluctuations. Data tables to all graphs are provided in Appendix 4.
Figure 8: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories
Science
3%
Aid and
Cultural
Development 2%
3%
Political/diplomatic
26%
Law(s) of
war/use of force
5%
Human
rights/humanitarian
10%
Environmental
5%
Economic
46%
33
Figure 9: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Laterality
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
General
Plurilateral
0
Figure 10: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Laterality
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Plurilateral
General
34
Figure 11: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories with IGO
Involvement
Science
3%
Aid and
Development
6%
Political/diplomatic
22%
Law(s) of war/use
of force
5%
Economic
44%
Human
rights/humanitarian
11%
Environmental
7%
Cultural
2%
35
Figure 12: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Time Period
1800
1600
1400
1200
Science
Political/diplomatic
1000
Law(s) of war/use of force
Human rights/humanitarian
Environmental
800
Economic
Cultural
Aid and Development
600
400
200
0
1500-1899 1900-1919 1920-1939 1940-1959 1960-1979 1980-1999 2000-2007
36
Figure 13: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Time Period
100%
90%
80%
70%
Science
60%
Political/diplomatic
Law(s) of war/use of force
50%
Human rights/humanitarian
Environmental
Economic
40%
Cultural
Aid and Development
30%
20%
10%
0%
1500-1899 1900-1919 1920-1939 1940-1959 1960-1979 1980-1999 2000-2007
37
The graphs above only deal with Broad (1) categories. The Narrow terms have been
excluded from this analysis because the distribution would appear confusing and cluttered, but
the Broad (2) distribution retains utility. The Broad (2) terms were an attempt to deal with the
illusive goal: mutual exclusivity. This was done in the strictest way; one could probably argue
that every treaty can appropriately be placed in more than one broad category. The table below
(Figure 14) shows the distribution of the Broad (2) categories. Only 274 of the 5743 treaties
were assigned a second broad category, less than five percent. The first Percentage column
shows the figures as a percent of the CSDMT (5743 treaties), and the second Percentage column
shows them as a percentage of themselves. So, 1.69% of treaties in the CSDMT were labeled
with a second broad category of “Economic”, and 35.40% of treaties with a second broad
category were labeled with the Broad (2) term “Economic.”
Figure 14: CSDMT Broad (2) Categories
Quantity
Aid and Development
Cultural
Economic
Environmental
Human rights/humanitarian
Law(s) of war/use of force
Political/diplomatic
Science
Total
17
13
97
3
36
45
28
35
274
Percentage
0.30%
0.23%
1.69%
0.05%
0.63%
0.78%
0.49%
0.61%
4.77%
Percentage (2)
6.20%
4.74%
35.40%
1.09%
13.14%
16.42%
10.22%
12.77%
100.00%
Excluding the Broad (2) categories from the graphs means that each treaty was only
counted once. If they were included, then some treaties would have been counted twice. While
this approach might have been taken the distribution would have changed only minimally. Less
than five percent of the CSDMT has a Broad (2) category; this small percentage is divided
38
among the broad terms. The differences are so minimal compared to the percentages shown in
Figure 8 (above) when these are added. In fact, if the percentages were rounded, many would
remain the same. 88
The data table below shows the makeup of the Broad (2) categories by the Broad (1)
categories. For example, it shows that from the 17 treaties labeled with the Broad (2) term “Aid
and Development,” 14 of those had “Economic” as their Broad (1) term. This table can also be
viewed in another way: Broad (1) terms by Broad (2). From the 24 treaties labeled as “Aid and
Development” and given a Broad (2) term, 12 of them were given the Broad (2) terms “Science.”
The most significant finding from this figure concerns the “Economic” and
“Political/diplomatic” treaties. The majority of “Political/diplomatic” treaties given a Broad (2)
term were placed under “Economic,” and obviously the majority of “Economic” Broad (2)
treaties had “Political/diplomatic” as the Broad (1) term.
Figure 15: CSDMT Broad (1) and Broad (2) Categories
Broad (2)
A&D
Cult.
Econ.
Envrion.
HR/Hum.
LoW/U.
P/d.
Science
Totals
A&D
0
0
3
0
9
0
0
12
24
Cult.
0
0
0
0
0
0
26
0
26
Econ.
14
12
0
1
3
1
0
7
38
Broad (1)
HR/Hum.
0
2
0
1
9
8
0
1
3
0
0
8
0
1
0
15
12
36
Environ.
LoW/U.
0
0
5
1
3
0
1
0
10
P/d.
0
0
72
0
2
36
0
1
111
Science
1
0
0
0
16
0
0
0
17
Totals
17
13
97
3
36
45
28
35
274
39
Chapter 6. Additional Suggestions and Conclusion
As mentioned, the new categorization system of the CSDMT significantly improved the
assignment of topic categories. Overall, the new categories did not reveal major changes from
those under the old system. There are some issues beyond the scope of this thesis that should be
discussed briefly: 1) mutual exclusivity, 2) accurate categorization, and 3) bases versus
derivative treaties.
Mutual exclusivity was discussed briefly by allowing treaties to be labeled with two
broad terms rather than only one. However, the new categorization system helps little in
deciding whether a treaty is primarily under one category and secondarily under another. The
Agreement on the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission in the above section
illustrates this. 89 Perhaps in the future, more work on the CSDMT’s categorization system will
allow for “partial credit”, e.g., if a treaty is more economic than environmental can it still be
included in both categories? This involves complicated judgments because it can be looked at in
a textual sense and functional sense. Does the treaty text help us to decided what is the
“primary” broad category or should one look at how the treaty functions? Maybe the treaty deals
mostly with environmental issues but functions in an “economic-sense.” Ideally, a
categorization system that allowed each treaty to have percentages for the broad categories
would really map the “forest.” So, a treaty would be said to be 50% “Economic,” 30%
“Environmental,” and 20% “Political/diplomatic.” A solution is not feasible but at least we
acknowledge problems attendant with mutual exclusivity.
Accurately categorizing treaties is challenging with few perfect answers especially when
trying to decide whether to categorize based on what a treaty deals with or what the treaty is
associated with. The best way to demonstrate how difficult this can be is by using an example:
40
The Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court. 90 Should
this treaty have the narrow term “Privileges and Immunities” or “International Courts.” Under
the old system, it was “International Courts.” Because that term was kept for a new one, it was
left the same. This treaty is about the Privileges and Immunities of an International Court; is
there a right and wrong narrow category? Either category serves both functions of being able to
search for the treaty and mapping the information correctly. In my opinion, it does not matter
whether one chooses to categorize these treaties based on what they deal with (privileges and
immunities) or what they are associated with (“International Criminal Court”). What matters
most is that categorization be consistent and the system be explicit and transparent. Future work
on the categorization system should assure consistency throughout the entire CSDMT. In
addition, the safety net here is that the treaty would still filter into “Political/diplomatic” in either
case.
Some treaties are supplementary protocols, optional protocols, and amendments. These
types are called derivatives because they would not exist if the original treaty, or base treaty, did
not exist. An amendment must have something to amend, and a supplementary protocol must
supplement something. Bases and derivatives are usually coded and added to the CSDMT at
separate times and always as separate entries. In relation to topic categories, should the
derivative treaties have the same topic categories as the bases? Consistency and ease of
searching are clear advantages if the categories are the same. However, oftentimes derivative
instruments are not created until several years after a base. If a coder had to check to make sure
that the derivative he/she coded had the same categories as the base, this could work at cross
purposes without the goal of replicable categorization system. It also may distort the categories
because, while there are times when bases and derivates do have similar aspirations, derivatives
41
often (especially supplementary protocols) deal with something “extra” than the base.
The Antarctic Treaty 91 is labeled as “Territory” for the narrow term and
“Political/diplomatic” for the Broad (1). Its derivative instrument, the Protocol on
Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, 92 is labeled differently as “Conservation” and
“Environmental” for the Narrow and Broad (1), respectively. Clearly, the protocol focuses on a
different issue than did the base. While labeling the same would be convenient and consistent, it
would not adequately reflect the dynamism of treaty creation and evaluation.
The goal of this thesis was to create, implement, and evalute a new topic categorization
system for the CSDMT. As mentioned, the new categorization system of the CSDMT is an
improvement, but it is far from perfect. Recategorization did not reveal major changes from
those under the old system. Overall, consistency of the categorization was improved as well as
increased flexibility because the new system does not have predetermined broad terms (the
categories no longer come in sets of three).
42
References
Bederman, D.J., Borgen, C.J., and Martin, D.A., International Law: A Handbook for Judges,
Studies in Transnational Legal Policy No. 35, ASIL (2003).
Buergenthall, T., and Murphy, S.D., Public International Law in a Nutshell, West Publishing Co.
(2007).
Cassese, A., International Law, Oxford (2001).
Comprehensive Statistical Database of Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT), Penn State Behrend
Honors Program project (1998).
Dixon, M., Textbook on International Law (3rd ed.), Blackstone Press Limited (1996).
Epps, V. International Law for Undergraduates, Carolina Academic Press (1998)
Glahn, G.v., Law Among Nations: An Introduction to Public International Law (7th ed.), Allyn
and Baclon (1996).
Hoffman, M., and Watson, J.M. (eds.), ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International
Law (2nd revised and expanded ed.), ASIL Bulletin No. 14, ASIL (2002).
Joyner, C.C., International Law in the 21st Century, Rowman & Littlefield (2005).
Malanczuk, P. Akehurst’s Modern Introduction to International Law (7th ed.), Routledge (1997).
Merrills, J.G., A Current Bibliography of International Law, Butterworths, London (1978).
Mitchell, R.B. International Environmental Agreements: A Survey of Their Features,
Formation, and Effects (Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 2003. 28:429-61: pages 429-461).
Rohn, P.H., Treaty Profiles, Clio Books (1976).
Rohn, P.H., World Treaty Index (2nd ed.) Vol. 1 (reference volume), Hein & Co, Inc. (1983).
Wallace, R.M.M., International Law: A Student Introduction (2nd ed.), Sweet and Maxwell
(1992).
43
Wiktor, C.L, Multilateral Treaty Calendar 1648-1995, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff (1998).
44
Appendix 1: Previous CSDMT Categorization System
Level 1
CAT UN
Aaland Islands
Accidents
Aggression and Nonaggression
Agricultural Commodities
Agriculture
Aliens
Alliances
Animals
Antarctica
Arbitration
Archaeological Finds
Archives
Armed Forces
Armistice and Surrender
Arms and Ammunition
Arms Control and Disarmament
Asylum
Atomic Energy
Automotive Traffic
Aviation
Banks and Banking
Birds
Border Crossing
Boundaries
Boundary Waters
Canals
Causes of Death
Chemical Products
Children
Claims
Climate
Cocoa
Coconut
Coffee
Collective Security
Colonies
Commercial Law
Commodities
Communications
Companies
Conciliation
Conservation
Consular Relations
Containers
Level 2
CAT MID
Other
Other
Military
Commodities
Commodities
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Environment
Territory
Legal Relations
Cultural Matters
Legal Relations
Military
Legal Relations
Military
Military
Diplomatic Matters
Other
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Economics/Trade
Environment
Territory
Territory
Territory
Transportation and Communication
Health
Commodities
Humanitarian
Legal Relations
Environment
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Military
Territory
Economics/Trade
Commodities
Transportation and Communication
Economics/Trade
Legal Relations
Environment
Diplomatic Matters
Economics/Trade
Level 3
CAT BROAD
Other
Other
Military
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Cultural
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Military
Military
Military
Political/Diplomatic
Other
Economic
Economic
Economic
Environment
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
45
Cooperation
Copper
Copyright
Cotton
Criminal Matters
Cultural Affairs
Cultural Property
Customs
Customs Services
Debts
Defense
Deportation
Development Assistance
Diamonds
Diplomatic Agents
Diplomatic Relations
Disaster Assistance
Disasters
Drugs
Economic and Social Development
Economic and Technical Cooperation
Economic Assistance and
Development
Economic Cooperation
Economic Integration
Education
Electric Power
Emigration and Immigration
Enemy Property
Energy
Environmental Cooperation
Environmental Protection
Exhibitions
Extradition
Extraterritoriality
Family Matters
Finance
Fisheries
Food
Food Aid
Foreign Law
Forestry
Friendly Relations
GATT
General Relations
Genocide
Geodetic Survey
Gold
Health and Sanitation
Diplomatic Matters
Commodities
Intellectual Property
Commodities
Legal Relations
Cultural Matters
Cultural Matters
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Military
Humanitarian
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Commodities
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Health
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Cultural
Cultural
Economic
Economic
Economic
Military
Humanitarian
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Other
Economics/Trade
Legal Relations
Military
Economics/Trade
Environment
Environment
Cultural Matters
Legal Relations
Territory
Humanitarian
Economics/Trade
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Legal Relations
Commodities
Diplomatic Matters
Economics/Trade
Diplomatic Matters
Humanitarian
Science
Commodities
Health
Economic
Economic
Economic
Other
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Economic
Environment
Environment
Cultural
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Other
Economic
Humanitarian
46
Highways
Housing
Human Rights
Hydrography
ILO Conventions
Independence
Industrial Development
Industrial Property
Industry
Information
Inheritance and Succession
Inland Navigation
Insurance
Integration of States
Intellectual Property
International Conferences
International Courts
International Law
International Officials and Employees
International Organizations
Intervention and Nonintervention
Investment
Joint Ventures
Judicial Assistance
Judicial Procedure
Jurisdiction
Jute
Labor
Lakes
Landlocked States
Languages
Law of the Sea
Legal Affairs
Liquor Traffic
Loans
Local Government
Marine Pollution
Marine Resources
Maritime Matters
Marriage
Matches
Medicine
Meteorology
Metrology
Migration
Military Affairs
Military Occupation
Mineral Resources
Transportation and Communication
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Humanitarian
Science
Humanitarian
Diplomatic Matters
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Other
Legal Relations
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Economics/Trade
Territory
Intellectual Property
Diplomatic Matters
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Military
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Territory
Commodities
Humanitarian
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Cultural Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Legal Relations
Transportation and Communication
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Legal Relations
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Legal Relations
Commodities
Health
Science
Science
Humanitarian
Military
Military
Economics/Trade
Economic
Economic
Humanitarian
Other
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Cultural
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Environment
Environment
Humanitarian
Economic
Humanitarian
Other
Other
Humanitarian
Military
Military
Economic
47
Minorities
Missiles
Morocco
Motor Vehicles
Narcotic Drugs
Nationality
Natural Resources
Nature
Naval Warfare
Navigation
Neutrality
Nuclear Weapons
Nutrition
Obscene Publications
Occupied Territory
Official Publications
Oil and Gas
Oil Pollution
Olive Oil
Outer Space
Pacific Settlement of Disputes
Passports
Patents
Peace
Peaceful Relations
Peacekeeping
Pepper
Persons (Law)
Pharmaceutical Products
Piracy
Plant Protection
Police
Political Questions
Pollution
Poplar
Population
Postal Communications
Prisoners of War
Private International Law
Privileges and Immunities
Prizes
Professions
Property
Public Administration
Publications
Railways
Red Cross Conventions
Refrigeration
Humanitarian
Military
Legal Relations
Economics/Trade
Health
Legal Relations
Environment
Environment
Military
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Legal Relations
Military
Health
Humanitarian
Territory
Legal Relations
Economics/Trade
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Commodities
Territory
Legal Relations
Transportation and Communication
Economics/Trade
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Military
Commodities
Legal Relations
Health
Legal Relations
Environment
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Environment
Commodities
Environment
Transportation and Communication
Humanitarian
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Intellectual Property
Transportation and Communication
Humanitarian
Economics/Trade
Humanitarian
Military
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Environment
Military
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Environment
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Economic
Environment
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Humanitarian
Economic
48
Refugees
Relief Assistance
Renunciation of War
Reparations
Rice
Rights and Duties of State
Rivers
Rubber
Rules of Warfare
Sale of Goods
Scientific and Technical Cooperation
Seabeds
Seals
Seismological Research
Silver
Slavery and Slave Trade
Social Affairs
Social Insurance
Social Security
Sovereignty
Space
Space Communications
Space Cooperation
Space Research
Sports
State Partition
Statelessness
States
Statistics
Straits
Sugar
Tangier
Tax Administration
Taxation
Tea
Technical Assistance
Telecommunications
Territorial Sovereignty
Territory
Terrorism
Timber
Time
Tin
Tolls
Tourism
Tracing Service
Trade and Commerce
Trademarks
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Military
Economics/Trade
Commodities
Legal Relations
Transportation and Communication
Commodities
Military
Economics/Trade
Science
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Environment
Science
Commodities
Humanitarian
Legal Relations
Health
Economics/Trade
Legal Relations
Space
Space
Space
Space
Other
Territory
Humanitarian
Legal Relations
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Commodities
Other
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Commodities
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Transportation and Communication
Territory
Territory
Legal Relations
Commodities
Other
Commodities
Economics/Trade
Transportation and Communication
Other
Economics/Trade
Intellectual Property
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Military
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Military
Economic
Other
Economic
Environment
Other
Economic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Other
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Other
Economic
Economic
Economic
Other
Economic
Economic
49
Trading with the Enemy
Traffic in Persons
Transboundary Relations
Transit
Transportation
Travel
Treaties
Trust and Mandated Territories
Uniform Laws
Union of States
Universities
Veterinary Medicine
Visas
War Crimes
War Criminals
War Graves and Memorials
War Supplies
Water Resources
Watercourses
Weather Stations
Weights and Measures
Wetlands
Whaling
Wheat
Wildlife Preservation
Wine
Women
Wool
World Heritage
Military
Humanitarian
Territory
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Legal Relations
Territory
Legal Relations
Territory
Other
Health
Legal Relations
Military
Military
Cultural Matters
Military
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Transportation and Communication
Science
Science
Environment
Environment
Commodities
Environment
Commodities
Humanitarian
Commodities
Environment
Military
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Military
Cultural
Military
Economic
Economic
Other
Other
Environment
Environment
Economic
Environment
Economic
Humanitarian
Economic
Environment
50
Appendix 2: Previous CSDMT Categorization System Sorted by Level 2
Level 1
CAT UN
Agricultural Commodities
Agriculture
Chemical Products
Cocoa
Coconut
Coffee
Commodities
Copper
Cotton
Diamonds
Forestry
Gold
Jute
Matches
Olive Oil
Pepper
Poplar
Rice
Rubber
Silver
Sugar
Tea
Timber
Tin
Wheat
Wine
Wool
Archaeological Finds
Cultural Affairs
Cultural Property
Exhibitions
Languages
War Graves and Memorials
Asylum
Consular Relations
Cooperation
Diplomatic Agents
Diplomatic Relations
Friendly Relations
General Relations
Independence
International Conferences
International Officials and Employees
International Organizations
Level 2
CAT MID
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Commodities
Cultural Matters
Cultural Matters
Cultural Matters
Cultural Matters
Cultural Matters
Cultural Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Level 3
CAT BROAD
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
51
Banks and Banking
Commercial Law
Companies
Containers
Customs
Customs Services
Debts
Economic Cooperation
Economic Integration
Electric Power
Energy
Finance
GATT
Insurance
Investment
Joint Ventures
Mineral Resources
Motor Vehicles
Oil and Gas
Patents
Refrigeration
Reparations
Sale of Goods
Social Security
Tax Administration
Taxation
Tolls
Trade and Commerce
Animals
Birds
Climate
Conservation
Environmental Cooperation
Environmental Protection
Natural Resources
Nature
Plant Protection
Pollution
Population
Seals
Wetlands
Whaling
Wildlife Preservation
World Heritage
Development Assistance
Disaster Assistance
Disasters
Economic and Social Development
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Economics/Trade
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Environment
Economic
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
52
Economic and Technical Cooperation
Economic Assistance and Development
Food
Food Aid
Housing
Industrial Development
Industrial Property
Industry
Loans
Statistics
Technical Assistance
Causes of Death
Drugs
Health and Sanitation
Medicine
Narcotic Drugs
Nutrition
Pharmaceutical Products
Social Insurance
Veterinary Medicine
Children
Deportation
Family Matters
Genocide
Human Rights
ILO Conventions
Labor
Migration
Minorities
Obscene Publications
Prisoners of War
Red Cross Conventions
Refugees
Relief Assistance
Slavery and Slave Trade
Statelessness
Traffic in Persons
Women
Copyright
Intellectual Property
Publications
Trademarks
Aliens
Alliances
Arbitration
Archives
Armistice and Surrender
Claims
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Health
Health
Health
Health
Health
Health
Health
Health
Health
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Other
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Economic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Economic
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Humanitarian
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Political/Diplomatic
53
Conciliation
Criminal Matters
Emigration and Immigration
Extradition
Foreign Law
Inheritance and Succession
International Courts
International Law
Judicial Assistance
Judicial Procedure
Legal Affairs
Local Government
Marriage
Morocco
Nationality
Neutrality
Official Publications
Pacific Settlement of Disputes
Peace
Peaceful Relations
Persons (Law)
Piracy
Police
Political Questions
Private International Law
Privileges and Immunities
Prizes
Professions
Property
Public Administration
Rights and Duties of State
Social Affiars
Sovereignty
States
Terrorism
Treaties
Uniform Laws
Visas
Fisheries
Inland Navigation
Lakes
Landlocked States
Law of the Sea
Marine Pollution
Marine Resources
Maritime Matters
Navigation
Oil Pollution
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Legal Relations
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Humanitarian
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Environment
Environment
Environment
Economic
Environment
54
Seabeds
Straits
Water Resources
Aggression and Nonaggression
Armed Forces
Arms and Ammunition
Arms Control and Disarmament
Collective Security
Defense
Enemy Property
Intervention and Nonintervention
Military Affairs
Military Occupation
Missiles
Naval Warfare
Nuclear Weapons
Peacekeeping
Renunciation of War
Rules of Warfare
Trading with the Enemy
War Crimes
War Criminals
War Supplies
Aaland Islands
Accidents
Atomic Energy
Education
Information
Sports
Tangier
Time
Tracing Service
Universities
Geodetic Survey
Hydrography
Meteorology
Metrology
Scientific and Technical Cooperation
Seismological Research
Weather Stations
Weights and Measures
Space
Space Communications
Space Cooperation
Space Research
Antarctica
Border Crossing
Boundaries
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Science
Science
Science
Science
Science
Science
Science
Science
Space
Space
Space
Space
Territory
Territory
Territory
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Military
Military
Military
Military
Political/Diplomatic
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Military
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
55
Boundary Waters
Colonies
Extraterritoriality
Integration of States
Jurisdiction
Occupied Territory
Outer Space
State Partition
Territorial Sovereignty
Territory
Transboundary Relations
Trust and Mandated Territories
Union of States
Automotive Traffic
Aviation
Canals
Communications
Highways
Liquor Traffic
Passports
Postal Communications
Railways
Rivers
Telecommunications
Tourism
Transit
Transportation
Travel
Watercourses
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Territory
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Transportation and Communication
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Political/Diplomatic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
Economic
56
Appendix 3: New CSDMT Categorization System
Narrow
Aaland Islands
Agriculture
Alliances
Arbitration
Armed Forces
Armistice and Surrender
Arms and Ammunition
Arms Control and Disarmament
Assistance and Development
Automotive Traffic
Aviation
Banks and Banking
Bodies of Water
Border relations
Boundaries
Carriage/transport
Children and Women
Claims
Climate
Collective Security
Colonies/territories
Commercial Law/regulations
Commodities
Communications
Companies
Conservation
Consular Relations
Cooperation
Corruption
Criminal Matters
Cultural Affairs
Customs/tariffs
Debts/loans/payments
Defense
Democracy/elections
Diplomatic Relations
Drugs
Education
Employment and Labor
Enemy Property
Energy
Extradition
Family Matters
Finance
Fisheries
Food
GATT
General Relations
Health and Sanitation
Highways
Human Rights
ILO Conventions
Industrial Matters
Information
Integration/union of states
Intellectual Property
International Courts
International Law
International Sale of Goods
Investments
Judicial Matters
Land Survey and Research
Law of the Sea
Legal Affairs
Liquor Traffic
Maritime Matters
Medicine
Meteorology
Military Affairs
Minorities
Monetary
Motor Vehicles
Movement of Persons
Nationality
Natural Resources
Navigation
Neutrality
Nuclear Science
Nuclear Weapons
Occupation
Passports/visas
Patents
Peace
Peaceful Settlement of Disputes
Police
Political Questions
Pollution
Postal Communications
Prisoners of War
Private International Law
Privileges and Immunities
Property
Publications
Railways
Red Cross Conventions
Refuge
Renunciation of War
Reparations
Rivers
Rules of Warfare
Scientific and Technical Cooperation
Seabeds
Seals
Slavery
Sovereignty
Space
State partition/succession
Statistics
Taxes
Technical Assistance
Telecommunications
Territory
Terrorism
Tolls
Tourism
Trade
Trademarks
Treaties
War Crime
War Graves and Memorials
War Supplies
Weather Stations
Weights and Measurement
Whaling
Wildlife
57
Broad (1 )
Aid and Development
Cultural
Economic
Environmental
Human Rights/humanitarian
Law(s) of war/use of force
Political/diplomatic
Science
Broad (2)*
Aid and Development
Cultural
Economic
Environmental
Human Rights/humanitarian
Law(s) of war/use of force
Political/diplomatic
Science
*Only use if necessary!
58
Appendix 4: Data Tables to All Graphs
Figure 1: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 1)
Quantity
Cultural
Economic
Environment
Humanitarian
Military
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Total
86
2455
365
467
297
483
1590
5743
Percentage
1%
43%
6%
8%
5%
8%
28%
100%
Figure 2: Previous CSDMT Mid Categories (Level 2)
Commodities
Cultural Matters
Diplomatic Matters
Economics/Trade
Environment
Foreign Aid/Assistance
Health
Humanitarian
Intellectual Property
Legal Relations
Maritime/Ocean Matters
Military
Other
Science
Space
Territory
Transportation and Communication
Total
Quantity
204
86
367
1214
137
177
119
365
66
749
393
279
317
111
49
173
937
5743
Percentage
3.6%
1.5%
6.4%
21.1%
2.4%
3.1%
2.1%
6.4%
1.1%
13.0%
6.8%
4.9%
5.5%
1.9%
0.9%
3.0%
16.3%
100.0%
Figures 3 and 4: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) by Laterality
General
Cultural
Economic
Environment
Humanitarian
Military
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Totals
3
275
114
259
31
42
333
1057
Plurilateral
83
2180
251
208
266
441
1257
4686
Totals
86
2455
365
467
297
483
1590
5743
59
Figure 5: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) with IGO Involvement
Cultural
Economic
Environment
Humanitarian
Military
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Total
7
299
24
39
22
79
304
774
Figures 6 and 7: Previous CSDMT Broad Categories (Level 3) by Time Period
15001899
Cultural
Economic
Environment
Humanitarian
Military
Other
Political/Diplomatic
Totals
0
147
2
19
31
3
275
477
19001919
5
117
13
28
36
16
128
343
19201939
12
389
38
103
31
20
231
824
Figure 8: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories
Aid and Development
Cultural
Economic
Environmental
Human rights/humanitarian
Law(s) of war/use of force
Political/diplomatic
Science
Total
Quantity
189
104
2645
268
604
282
1478
173
5743
Percentage
3.29%
1.81%
46.06%
4.67%
10.52%
4.91%
25.74%
3.01%
100.00%
19401959
20
448
37
101
107
39
268
1020
19601979
22
747
117
107
38
250
388
1669
19801999
26
572
150
96
51
151
272
1318
20002007
1
35
8
13
3
4
28
92
Totals
86
2455
365
467
297
483
1590
5743
60
Figures 9 and 10: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Laterality
Aid and Development
Cultural
Economic
Environmental
Human rights/humanitarian
Law(s) of war/use of force
Political/diplomatic
Science
Total
General
39
5
333
54
318
31
258
19
1057
Plurilateral
150
99
2312
214
286
251
1220
154
4686
Totals
189
104
2645
268
604
282
1478
173
5743
Figure 11: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories with IGO Involvement
Aid and Development
Cultural
Economic
Environmental
Human rights/humanitarian
Law(s) of war/use of force
Political/diplomatic
Science
Total
43
19
334
55
84
35
170
27
774
Figures 12 and 13: CSDMT Broad (1) Categories by Time Period
Aid and Development
Cultural
Economic
Environmental
Human rights/
humanitarian
Law(s) of war/
use of force
Political/diplomatic
Science
Total
15001899
0
1
159
1
19001919
14
4
121
4
19201939
8
13
425
7
19401959
31
25
451
26
19601979
79
33
854
89
19801999
56
27
601
131
20002007
1
1
34
10
Totals
189
104
2645
268
19
34
116
129
149
142
15
604
34
261
2
477
35
126
5
343
31
218
6
824
88
258
12
1020
38
336
91
1669
53
252
56
1318
3
27
1
92
282
1478
173
5743
61
Endnotes
1
Examples include the Agreement Relating to the Territory of Nauru, signed November 26, 1965, entered into force
November 26, 1965, 598 UNTS 81 (parties are Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland); and the Kytoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
signed December 11, 1997, entered into force February 16, 2005, text available at
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.html.
2
R.B. Mitchell, International Environmental Agreements: A Survey of Their Features, Formation, and Effects
(Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 2003. 28:429-61: pages 429-461)
3
The Comprehensive Statistical Database of Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT) is a project of the Honors Programs at
Behrend College of Pennsylvania State University. It originated in 1998 with a review by John Gamble of Christian
L. Wiktor, Multilateral Treaty Calendar 1648-1995, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff (1998) prepared for the American
Journal of International Law (v. 93, pp. 565-6, 2000). Since then, many sources have been used to develop a
comprehensive listing of all multilateral treaties signed during the 500-year period, 1500-1999. Each treaty has been
analyzed and the following variables collected: headnote, name of instrument, treaty series and location, laterality
(plurilateral/ general), signature date, force date, relation to IGOs, topic category #1 (UN's about 300, e.g., whaling),
topic category #2 (about 30, e.g., maritime/oceans), topic category #3 (about 10, e.g., economic), dispute settlement
provisions, reservations provisions, duration clause, length of text, official languages, regional focus, and instrument
type (non-binding, supplementary, etc.)
4
The earliest treaty in the CSDMT is the following: Treaty of the Union of the Seven Northern Provinces of the
Netherlands/Utrecht, signed January 23, 1579, in Sources Relating to the History of the Law of Nations.
5
C.L. Wiktor, Mutilateral Treaty Calendar 1648-1995, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff (1998).
6
Treaty of Peace, signed October 24, 1648, 1 Parry 119.
7
Supra note 3.
8
Wiktor, Supra note 5.
9
Id., at page xxii.
10
Infra note 42.
11
Infra notes 29 and 30.
12
Anti-doping Convention, signed November 16, 1989, European Treaty Series (ETS) # 135, available at
http://conventions.coe.int.
13
Amendment to the Appendix of the Anti-doping Convention, signed May 29, 1997, 2046 UNTS 110.
14
Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) “…are permanent associations of states, created by states on the basis of
a treaty, a constituent instrument variously known as charter, constitution instrument, and governed by public
international law. Although international organizations are, as a rule, limited to states, they may, in exceptional
cases, such as for example the Universal Postal Union (UPU), accept dependent territories as members or, like the
International Labour Organisation (ILO), include a tripartite representation of government, employers, and labor.
Whether a certain cooperative arrangement of states is an organization or only a standing conference is a matter of
degree but, as illustrated by the case of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade, the feature of permanence, as
reflected in the headquarters, staff, and budget are important indications for the existence of an international
organization. As a rule, an international organization has a permanent secretariat, an assembly of all members, and a
governing body (a council) of a limited number of members.” This information was taken from the following: B.A.
Boczek, International Law: A Dictionary, Scarecrow Press (2005), at page 71.
15
D.J. Bederman, C.J. Borgen, and D.A. Martin, International Law: A Handbook for Judges, Studies in
Transnational Legal Policy No. 35, ASIL (2003), at page 72: “Collectivities of nations, often called international
organizations or international institutions, have become a notable feature on the landscape of international relations.
Even so, the international law was rather slow in recognizing the legal status, or international legal personality, or
these entities.”
16
This topic has not been extensively researched. Initial investigation to the matter has revealed that there is little
information available. The CSDMT research project has decided that, so far, the best way to deal with this is check
to the signature pages of the treaty. If the signature pages show signatures for each state comprising the IGO (and
another for the other state), then the treaty is considered multilateral. On the other hand, if the pages show one
signature representing the IGO (and one signature for the other state), it is bilateral.
17
According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, signed May 23, 1969 (entered into force January 27,
1980), 1155 UNTS 331, at article 18, states still have treaty obligations even if the treaty they have signed is not yet
62
in force: “A state is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty when: (a) it
has signed the treaty or has exchanged instruments constituting the treaty subject to ratification, acceptance or
approval, until it shall have made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty; or (b) it has expressed its
consent to be bound by the treaty, pending the entry into force of the treaty and provided that such entry into force is
not unduly delayed.” That being stated, treaties not in force are not “counted” in the CSDMT.
18
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed on December 10, 1948, 43 AJIL 127.
19
The UN’s database is available at http://treaties.un.org. This Web site contains links to all UN publications
mentioned in this section. However, UN publications are also available to subscribers of HeinOnline
(http://heinonline.org) at its United Nations Law Collection. I prefer to use HeinOnline to view most publications.
20
Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General (MTDSG), available at
http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ParticipationStatus.aspx.
21
Id., at Introduction page III in both Volumes I and II. Prior to the United Nations, the League of Nations had its
own treaty series called League of Nations Treaty Series (LNTS).
22
Id., at page 953 in Volume I and page 665 in Volume II (both volumes contain the same index). Hereinafter, page
numbers will only be given for one volume, which will be identified.
23
Id., at pages 3 and 668 in Volume II.
24
Id., at pages 97 and 667 in Volume II.
25
Id., at pages 127, 954, and 955 in Volume I.
26
Treaty Series Cumulative Index No. 42 (2007), covering UNTS volumes 2251 to 2300, available at
http://treaties.un.org/Pages/CumulativeIndexes.aspx.
27
Id. The alphabetical index begins at page 201.
28
Id.
29
To see, go to the following Web page < http://treaties.un.org/Pages/UNTSOnline.aspx?id=1> and click on “Click
here to search the UNTS legacy database.”
30
After clicking on link in note 29 (supra), click on “Advanced Search.”
31
Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance signed June 20, 1956, entered into force May 5, 1957, 268
UNTS 3, registration number 3850.
32
Supra note 20, at page 301 in Volume II.
33
Supra note 26, at page 316.
34
Found in supra note 20, at page 953 in Volume I; supra note 20, at page 239; and supra notes 29 and 30.
35
Found in supra note 11, at page 203; and supra notes 14 and 15.
36
Found in supra note 20, at page 669 in Volume II.
37
Found in supra note 20, at page 276; and supra notes 29 and 30.
38
Found in supra notes 29 and 30.
39
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, signed December 16, 1966, entered into force
January 3, 1976, 993 UNTS 3, registration number 14531.
40
I tried this four times. All four times I typed “International Covenant” in the keyword/phrase box. The first time I
used “Social matters” and the result was a list of 754 agreements/actions. The second time I also used “Social
matters” but used a drop down menu in order to search only multilaterals; the result was a screen displaying “No
Records Found.” The third and fourth times I used “Human rights” as the subject because I had a clue about how
the UN views this treaty’s subject matter. The “Millennium Summit Multilateral Treaty Framework: An Invitation
to Universal Participation” (United Nations, September 6-8, 2000, New York, DPI/2130) included this treaty in its
participation efforts and stated this while outlining its key provisions: “Of all the basic human rights standards, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides the most important international legal
framework for protecting basic human rights.” The third time, 475 documents were found. However, the fourth
time, I denoted multilaterals only and there were six results, one of them being the desired treaty. See also notes 49
through 54, infra.
41
Information about these series was gather from C.L. Wiktor, Multilateral Treaty Calendar 1648-1995 (Martinus
Nijhoff, 1998), at pages xli-xliv (supra note 5) and HeinOnline’s Treaties and Agreements Library at
http://heinonline.org (available to subscribers only).
42
Available at http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/treaties/2007/index.htm
43
Id.
44
Id., at page 2.
45
http://www.treaty-accord.gc.ca/Section.asp?Page=TS
46
Id., upper-left portion of screen contains navigation pain. The links are listed under “Treaty List.”
63
47
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, signed March 3, 1973,
entered into force July 1, 1975, 943 UNTS 243, registration number 14537.
48
First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed forces in the
Field; Second Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the condition of Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked
Members of Armed Forces At Sea; Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War; and
Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
49
I have had times when searching by subject was difficult and/or unsuccessful. However, I tried searching for the
same treaty used in the UN search test (supra notes 39 and 40). I used the “All” link, typed in “International
Covenant”, and chose “Human rights” as the subject. I used no keywords. The result was only seven possibilities
and one was the treaty. The problem, though, is that the full treaty text is unavailable.
50
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/
51
When going to Web site in note 50 (supra), one will automatically be browsing “By Year.” This option will not
show up in the navigation area under “Browse.” If one clicks on one of the other options, that option will disappear
from the navigation area and “By Year” will appear.
52
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/reports/aitm1.html
53
http://www.austlii.edu.au/forms/search1.html?mask=au%2Fother%2Fdfat%2F
54
I tried searching for the same treaty as the UN and Canadian search tests (supra notes 39, 40, and 49). I typed in
“Human rights” and the results list was just above 500. The desired treaty was the 17th one listed when sorted by
relevance. These three “tests” I conducted on the UN, Canadian, and Australian search functions were planned out.
I knew that the treaty was in all three treaty compilations. I also had additional information as to the correct topic
category, human rights. The overall goal was to demonstrate that searching by categories is not always easy or
successful.
55
http://www.eisil.org/
56
http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=408977062&t=about
57
Supra note 55. The topics (subjects) listed consist of the following: General International Law; States & Groups
of States; Individuals & Groups, International Organizations; International Dispute Settlement; International
Economic Law; Communications & Transport; Private International Law; International Environmental Law;
International Air, Space & Water; International Criminal Law; International Human Rights; International
Humanitarian Law; and Use of Force.
58
The subtopics include Natural Disasters, Transboundary Cooperation, Biodiversity & Protection of Ecosystems,
Protection of the Atmosphere, Nuclear Energy, Hazardous Materials & Activities, Watercourse Protection, Oceans
& Marine Sources, Pollution, Antarctica & the Arctic (Polar Regions), Responsibility & Liability, Sustainable
Development, Trade & Development, and Armed Conflict & Protection of the Environment:
http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=408977062&t=sub_pages&cat=18.
59
Contains primary documents for the major sources of International Environmental Law (e.g., United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change) as well as other important documents (Rio Declaration on
Environmental and Development) and links to important Web sites about environmental law:
http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=408977062&t=sub_pages&cat=418.
60
Sometimes, documents that do not reach treaty status (they are declarations or regulations, not a treaty) are listed.
From what I have looked at on EISIL, all treaties are multilateral. However, I did not look at every single treaty
available on the Web site; there may be a few bilaterals.
61
Marcie Hoffman, Berkeley, email about EISIL sent on February 24, 2010. Hoffman lists the following as “wellestablished schemes” that were used to develop the EISIL system: British Yearbook of International Law; Peace
Palace Library classification; Schwerin Classification; Library of Congress classification; Netherlands Yearbook of
International Law; Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Max Planck); Public International Law (bibliography)
(Max Planck); Treatises: Oppenheim, Brownlie, Wallace, Buergenthal’s Nutshell, and Henkin; Restatement (3rd) of
Foreign Relations Law, and other subject compilations.
62
Id.
63
Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, signed November 13, 1979 (entered into force March
16, 1983), 1302 UNTS 217.
64
Supra note 55.
65
Supra note 58.
66
Supra note 63.
67
Id.
64
68
P.H. Rohn, World Treaty Index (2nd ed.), Vol.1 (reference volume), Hein & Co., Inc. (1983), at page 15: “Most
research in categories of treaties develops in the context of quantitative studies in political science or in those legal
studies which share the methods and goals of the social sciences. These studies are typically interested in the
proverbial forest rather than the trees. They ask “macro” rather than “micro” questions. They examine patterns and
trends of treaties rather than details of individual treaties…However, there are always some research contexts that
aim both at the forest and at the trees.”
69
Id.
70
Supra note 52.
71
See text at supra notes 31 through 33.
72
See Appendix 1: Previous CSDMT Categorization System.
73
Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, signed November 25, 1993 (entered into
force March 27, 1996), 1927 UNTS 330.
74
Id., at Preamble.
75
1) J.G. Merrills, A Current Bibliography of International Law, Butterworths, London (1978); 2) R.M.M. Wallace,
International Law: A Student Introduction (2nd ed.), Sweet and Maxwell (1992); 3) M. Dixon, Textbook on
International Law (3rd ed.), Blackstone Press Limited (1996); 4) G.v. Glahn, Law Among nations: An introduction to
Public International Law (7th ed.), Allyn and Baclon (1996); 5) P. Malanczuk, Akehurst’s Modern Introduction to
International Law (7th ed.), Routledge (1997); 6) V. Epps, International Law for Undergraduates, Carolina
Academic Press (1998); 7) D.J. Bederman, C.J. Borgen, and D.A. Martin, International Law: A Handbook for
Judges, Studies in International Legal Policy No. 35, ASIL (2001); 8) A. Cassese, International Law, Oxford
(2001); 9) Eds. M. Hoffman and J.M. Watson, ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law (2nd
revised and expanded ed..), ASIL Bulletin No. 14, ASIL (2002); 10) C.C. Joyner, International Law in the 21st
Century, Rowman & Littlefield (2005); 11) T. Buerfenthall and S.D. Murphy, Public International Law in a
Nutshell , West Publishing Co. (2007).
76
Id., numbers 1 and 9.
77
Statue of the International Court of Justice, signed June 26, 1945, entered into force October 24, 1945, 9 Hudson
510. Article 38 is viewed as providing the sources of international law and states: “The Court, whose function is to
decide in accordance with international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply: a. international
conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states; b.
international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law; c. the general principles of law recognized
by civilized nations; d. subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly
qualified publicists of the various nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.”
78
Rohn, supra note 68.
79
P.H. Rohn, Treaty Profiles, Clio Books (1976).
80
Id., at pages 14-15.
81
Id., at page 14.
82
Id., at pages 43-44.
83
Id., at page 10.
84
Supra note 57.
85
Dr. John K. Gamble, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Law
86
Statute of the International Hydrographic Bureau, signed June 21, 1921, 1 Hudson 663; Convention on the
International Hydrographic Organisation, signed May 3, 1967 (entered into force September 22, 1970), 751 UNTS
41.
87
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed November 4, 1950 (entered
into force September 3, 1953), 213 UNTS 221.
88
I tried this and “Economic” treaties remain at 46% with the Broad (2) categories counted.
89
Supra note 73.
90
Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court, signed September 10, 2002
(entered into force July 22, 2004), 2271 UNTS 3.
91
The Antarctic Treaty, signed December 1, 1959 (entered into force June 23, 1961), 402 UNTS 71.
92
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, signed October 4, 1991, available at
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/about_antarctica/geopolitical/treaty/update_1991.php.
ACADEMIC VITA OF Christine M. Giuliano
Christine M. Giuliano
PSB Mail Box #: 1166
4701 College Dr.
Erie, PA 16563
[email protected]
Education:
Bachelor of Science in Accounting
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Major: Accounting
Minor: Political science
Member of Schreyer Honors College of Penn State University
Research Experience:
Co-author with Dr. John King Gamble, Penn State Erie, of
“US Supreme Court, Medellín v. Texas: More than an
Assiduous Building Inspector?”
 Published in Leiden Journal of International Law,
Volume 22, Issue 001, pages 151-169
(Will furnish upon request in pdf)
Panelist at the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual
Convention in New York City, NY
 Presented paper entitled “Multilateral Treaties:
Accommodating Subject Matter Topics”
(Will furnish upon request in pdf)
Manager of the Comprehensive Statistical Database of
Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT) at Penn State Erie
 One-of-a-kind research project at Penn State Erie where
information about all known multilateral treaties
(from 1579 to present) is collected and analyzed
Work Experience:
Office assistant to Susan Penwell, realtor and REO director
at Western Reserve Realty Group Inc, Girard, OH
 Help conduct broker price opinions of homes
 Process reimbursement forms
Achievements and Awards
95th percentile scorer of Educational Testing Service’s (ETS)
Major Field Test in Business
 Given to over 80,000 business students at 564 institutions
Evan Pugh Scholar Award
 Presented to juniors and seniors at Penn State in the
upper 0.5 percent of their classes
Organizational Membership
The International Honor Society of Beta Gamma Sigma
Expected: May 2010
June 2007 to present
March 2009
February 15, 2009
September 2007 to present
June 2004 to present
October 2009
March 2009 and 2010
May 2009 to present