The treaties' dilemma: economic-based explanations of the Belt and Road Initiative's non-treaty-based configuration

Natan Colombo ()

LIUC Papers in Economics from Cattaneo University (LIUC)

Abstract: This paper aims to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of either a soft law-based or a hard law-based configuration for newly established multilateral partnerships, through the elaboration of the concept of Treaties' Dilemma and its contextualisation in the analysis of the practical case of the Belt and Road Initiative. The work is structured as follows. The introduction emphasises the relevance of treaties in modern times, concisely addresses the main contributions in the literature of the economic analysis of treaties and international agreements, and provides necessary information on the Belt and Road Initiative. Section 2 thoroughly presents and describes the Treaties' Dilemma, underlining the relationship between formality and flexibility and between complexity and commitment of both hard-law instruments and soft-law tools, while the next section lists and addresses the advantages and disadvantages of the Belt and Road Initiative's soft law-based legal architecture. Then, Section 4 puts forward economic explanations of the Treaties' Dilemma, corroborating the necessity and significance of the application of the economic approach to the analysis of treaties able to clarify the reasons why treaties, as one of the main source of international law, in specific situations can be perceived as less attractive international legal instruments compared to soft law's tools. Conclusive remarks end the work.

Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2024-02
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Published in Università Cattaneo Working papers n.15 2023

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:liu:liucec:2024-16

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