Compliance and the Effectiveness of International Institutions： A New Solution or Wishful Thinking ?

　　Abstract: The 1990s saw a surge in cross-disciplinary work in the fields of international relations and international law. International relations scholars and international law scholars found themselves with a common agenda with respect to research on compliance, as the study of compliance became a critical part of international relations theory. Scholars of International Relations used compliance as a litmus test of the causal influence of institutions. While such tests offer a degree of objectivity, they do not necessarily confirm a relationship between compliance and the effectiveness of international institutions. Compliance then is a misreading of the institutional causal relationship. At the same time compliance research is also challenged epistemologically, methodologically and by its inherent endogeneity problem. Compliance research does offer an important lesson for understanding the effectiveness of institutions: researchers must carefully select indicators in assessing causality so that they can accurately determine the causal impact of institutions on a state's policies and behavior.

　　Author: Wang Mingguo is a PhD student in the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University and a Lecturer at the East China Normal University