Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The Comprehensive Statistical Database of Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT) began in 1998 with a review in the American Journal of International Law of Christian L. Wiktor’s Multilateral Treaty Calendar, 1648-1995. Since then, CSDMT has expanded using a number of sources to examine the texts of all multilateral treaties signed during the five hundred year period, 1500-1999. Because of the huge number of treaties, about 7,000, the emphasis of CSDMT necessarily has been on breadth, not depth. The operating assumption is that it should take no longer than 30 minutes to code a treaty. Variables had to meet two criteria that often work at cross purposes: intrinsic importance, collectable quickly and reliably by bright undergraduates. Sixteen variables are included. When he CSDMT is completed (about May, 2006), it will increase knowledge about broad patterns and trends in multilateral treaties and provide a long historical view. Even if it is impossible to do an adequate job of massaging these data to account for huge variations in importance and duration, CSDMT can be important in illustrating the complex, dense fabric of multilateral treaties that establishes norms for so much transnational behavior. The CSDMT not only confirms but graphically illustrates the accuracy of Professor Henkin's aphorism: “almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all the time.”

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