Strategic Treaty Management: Practice and Implications - Hardcover

'This superb book makes a major contribution to the theory and practice of international treaty-making and implementation. Moving beyond the thin conception of treaties so common in the international relations literature, McInerney draws on management theory to broaden the conceptual frame, while providing concrete suggestions for improving treaty performance. His approach promises to reinvigorate multilateral treaties as a form of international cooperation. This book is a must-read for international law scholars and practitioners.' Tom Ginsburg, Leo Spitz Professor of International Law, University of Chicago Law School

'Treaties have proliferated to affect many different domestic regulatory domains. Yet at the same time there is cynicism about treaties. States, in the eyes of many, will renege on their treaty obligations if it is in their interests to do so. In this highly innovative book Thomas F. McInerney identifies and analyses practices of what he terms 'strategic treaty management'. Understanding these practices is central to helping state and non-state actors realize the promise of treaties they have negotiated. Written with great clarity and drawing together different disciplinary contributions, this book provides scholars and practitioners with a deep understanding of the operational life of treaties.' Peter Drahos, Australian National University, Canberra

'... the strength of the book is to invite all those who examine and analyze multilateral treaties not to neglect their form, processes and outcomes while also emphasizing the need for treaties to be managed in a strategic manner, not haphazardly.' Konstantinos D. Magliveras, Academic Council of the United Nations System (www.acuns.org)

While little recognized in international law scholarship, multilateral treaties in diverse fields have begun to apply strategic management techniques to make them more effective and responsive. This examination of those practices and their interplay with associated international organizations considers the application of strategic management across treaties' planning, financing, implementation, and evaluation activities. The study leads to a new appreciation of the intricacies of multilateral treaty activities and a better understanding of their operations within complex webs of networked international institutions. In considering different approaches to steering treaties through this dispersed global governance landscape, Thomas F. McInerney draws on current strategic management literature to explore the utility of nonlinear, emergent models of strategy and gain insights from strategy as practice research. While recognizing strategic management's potential value in facilitating more flexible applications of multilateral agreements, he also emphasizes the need to maintain their normativity as international legal obligations.