This book explores how the law of treaty withdrawal operates. Many
commentators have observed a wider sense of crisis in international law
as governments of different ideological stripes withdraw or threaten to
withdraw from international organisations and treaties. There are
different political forces behind all of these cases but, they all use
the same basic device in international law - a treaty withdrawal clause.
This book focuses on withdrawal clauses within multilateral treaties,
providing a detailed synthesis of them and situating them within the
wider context of the international rule of law. Yet, the theoretical
assumptions about State behaviour upon which the law of withdrawal rests
are fracturing. For it to operate, as the final part of this study
shows, States have to behave as rational actors, averse to damaging
their reputation in international law and willing to accept the
existence of a wider rule-bound framework. Using insights from
international relations and critical legal theory this book unpacks how
and why the law of withdrawal operates and the forces that threaten its
operation in the future.