Environmental Treaty Ratification: Treaty Design, Domestic Politics and International Incentives

Abstract

How do we explain the variation in state ratification of environmental treaties? Researchers have sought to answer this question by emphasizing treaty design, dynamics related to a state's domestic institutional dynamics and dynamics related to a state's place in the international community. This paper advances the literature by testing these established expectations, separately and simultaneously, using a new sample of 55 environmental treaties. Very few large-n studies of environmental treaty ratification have been performed and none include both regional and global treaties or utilize a precise definition of the contested concept "environmental" to guide sample selection. The analysis demonstrates support for all three approaches although with caveats attached to each. Combined, these results imply that while ratification is a domestic procedure, it is one rooted in the international sphere and conditioned by treaty design.