¹ For another metaphoric use of this story, see Jon Elster, Ulysses and the Sirens: Studies in Rationality and Irrationality (1985).

² See CSIS, The World Trade Organization: The Appellate Body Crisis, at https://www.csis.org/programs/scholl-chair-international-business/world-trade-organization-appellate-body-crisis.

³ See Coronavirus: Trump Moves to Pull US Out of World Health Organization, BBC (July 7, 2020); Brianna Ehley & Alice Miranda Ollstein, Trump Announces U.S. Withdrawal from the World Health Organization, Politico (May 29, 2020); Richard Haass, Trump's Foreign Policy Doctrine? The Withdrawal Doctrine, Wash. Post (May 27, 2020); US and Israel Officially Withdraw from UNESCO, PBS Newshour (Jan 1, 2019).

⁴ See Greg Webb, Security Council Fails on Global Ceasefire, Arms Control Today (June 2020).

⁵ The twentieth century had a handful of works dedicated to treaties. E.g., Paul Reuter, Introduction au droit des traités (2d ed. 1985); Sir Ian Sinclair, The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (2d ed. 1984); A. McNair, Law of Treaties (2d ed. 1961). The twenty-first century has witnessed a dramatic increase in such treatments. See, e.g., The Oxford Guide to Treaties (Duncan B. Hollis ed., 2d ed. 2020, 1st ed. 2012); The Oxford Handbook of United Nations Treaties (Simon Chesterman, David M. Malone & Santiago Villalpando eds., 2019); Conceptual and Contextual Perspectives on the Modern Law of Treaties (Michael J. Bowman & Dino Kritsiotis eds., 2018); Robert Kolb, The Law of Treaties: An Introduction (2016); Richard Gardiner, Treaty Interpretation (2015); Barbara Koremenos, The Continent of International Law: Explaining Agreement Design (2016); Anthony Aust, Modern Treaty Law and Practice (3d ed. 2013); Research Handbook on the Law of Treaties (Christian J. Tams, Antonios Tzanakopoulos & Andreas Zimmermann eds., with Athene E. Richford, 2013); Making Treaties Work: Human Rights, Environment and Arms Control (Geir Ulfstein ed., in collaboration with Thilo Marauhn & Andreas Zimmermann, 2007); National Treaty Law and Practice (Duncan B. Hollis, Merritt R. Blakeslee & Benjamin Ederington eds., 2005); Malgosia Fitzmaurice & Olufemi Elias, Contemporary Issues in the Law of Treaties (2005).

⁶ Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Arts. 2(1)(a), 10–17, May 23, 1969, 1155 UNTS 331.

⁷ Id. Arts. 31(1), 60; see also Lisa L. Martin, Compliance or Effectiveness? Assessing the Reach (and Limits) of Treaty-Making, in The Oxford Guide to Treaties (2d ed. 2020), supra note 5, at 82.

⁸ As a result, many major works have focused on unpacking and commenting on its contents. See, e.g., The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary (Oliver Dörr & Kirsten Schmalenbach eds., 2d ed. 2018); The Vienna Conventions on the Law of Treaties: A Commentary (Olivier Corten & Pierre Klein eds., 2011); Mark E. Villiger, Commentary on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (2009); Treaty Interpretation and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Olufemi Elias & Panos Merkouris eds., 2010); 40 Years of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Alexander Orakhelashvili & Sarah Williams eds., 2010); but see The Law of Treaties Beyond the Vienna Convention (Enzo Cannizzaro ed., 2011).

⁹ Nolte acknowledges his analysis's Euro-centricity but justifies it for providing the “most illustrative historical examples . . . of systematically relevant treaties” (p. 57).

¹⁰ See Thomas M. Franck, Nation Against Nation—What Happened to the U.N. Dream and What the U.S. Can Do About It (1985).

¹¹ E.g., Anthea Roberts, Is International Law International? (2017).

¹² For this broader treatment, see The International Rule of Law: Rise or Decline (Heike Krieger, Georg Nolte & Andreas Zimmermann eds., 2019).

¹³ For one effort at such an evaluation, see Duncan B. Hollis, Binding and Non-Binding Agreements: Sixth Report, OEA/Ser.Q, CJI/doc. 600/20 (Feb. 3, 2020).