Recommended Citation
Izadora Coutinho,
Institutional Authority Without Ratification: Rethinking International Organizations’ Governance in the Post-Treaty Era,
58 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L.
545
(2026)
Available at:
https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol58/iss1/17
Abstract
This Article examines the growing normative authority exercised by international organizations through informal governance mechanisms that operate without treaty ratification or formal consent. It argues that international law is undergoing structural transformation: global standards increasingly emerge from flexible, network-based arrangements rather than negotiated treaties. Using the OECD/G20 Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) Rules as a case study, this Article illustrates how nonbinding instruments can generate de facto binding effects. Their adoption by numerous jurisdictions reflects systemic incentives, reputational pressures, and tax base erosion threats. While such mechanisms enhance flexibility and responsiveness, they also raise significant concerns about legitimacy, sovereignty, and accountability. The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) is formally open to all jurisdictions, yet its decision-making structure and technical complexity reinforce asymmetries between developed and developing states. At the same time, traditional institutions such as the United Nations, IMF, and World Bank struggle to assert influence despite broader mandates and formal legitimacy. Recent UN efforts to negotiate a framework convention on international tax cooperation highlight both institutional fragmentation and the demand for more inclusive, treaty-based alternatives. The analysis situates these developments within broader debates on the decline of multilateral treaty-making, the rise of soft law, and the reconfiguration of authority in international institutional law. It identifies key risks of informal governance, including democratic deficits, limited contestability, and technocratic concentration of authority, and proposes a normative framework to recalibrate governance. By examining the intersection between informal legal authority and institutional design, the Article contributes to a deeper understanding of the current turning point in international law, one that challenges long-standing assumptions about how legitimacy, consent, and governance are constructed in a globalized legal order. (from author)