Ebook: Making and Bending International Rules: The Design of Exceptions and Escape Clauses in Trade Law

All treaties, from human rights to international trade, include formal exceptions that allow governments to legally break the rules that they have committed to, in order to deal with unexpected events. Such insti- tutional “ exibility” is necessary, yet it raises a tricky theoretical ques- tion: how to allow for this necessary exibility, while preventing its abuse? Krzysztof Pelc examines how designers of rules in vastly differ- ent settings come upon similar solutions to render treaties resistant to unexpected events.
Essential for undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars in political science, economics, and law, the book provides a compre- hensive account of the politics of treaty exibility. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, its multi-disciplinary approach addresses the para- doxes inherent in making and bending international rules.