Environmental and Trade Regimes: Comparison of Hypergraphs Modeling the Ratifications of UN Multilateral Treaties

Abstract

In analyzing the ratifications of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and United Nations-based trade agreements, this study pursues two goals: first, to provide evidence of the limitations of the role played by the United Nations in promoting sustainable development as a bridge between both regimes, although member states are roughly the same; second, on a methodological side, to contribute to the exploration of the use of hypergraphs to model a dynamic in International Relations, as illustrated by analyzing empirical data easily accessible and available on the web. We use 3550 ratification dates of MEAs (1979–2015) and 834 ratifications of trade agreements (1963–2014) available on the website of the United Nations Treaty Collection. The hypergraph-based analysis of the temporal successions of ratifications highlights informal communities of countries whose contours emerge through this uncoordinated process of ratification. The European countries and more specifically members of the European Union, and their Atlantic allies stand out as having the leadership of the construction of a global environmental order. However, no formally established community of countries emerges from the chronology of ratification of the United Nations trade agreements. In this particular UN context, none of the contemporary trade powers is even central to this dynamic. Indeed, most trade negotiations take place outside the United Nations arena, particularly in the framework of the World Trade Organization, or in regional, bilateral, or even minilateral partnerships.