The United States and Its Treaties: Observance and Breach

The commitment of the United States to its treaty obligations has recently been put in question by two persistent histories of treaty violation—the refusal to pay U.S. United Nations dues in full until the contentious and tenuous settlement of early 2001 and the repeated failure to advise alien prisoners of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Official advocacy of an antimissile defense system has also raised concern about the United States’ continuing fidelity to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.