The wisdom of Eli Dourado
How do “international efforts” work? Unlike most of the signatories of the letter, I have been a State Department advisor and have participated in multiple treaty negotiations. I have also been a member of technical committees for UN technical agencies. The international sector is unbelievably dysfunctional. Every single treaty or international agreement is an opportunity […] The post The wisdom…
Eli Dourado, a former State Department advisor, has shed light on the complexities and dysfunctionality of international efforts. He has had firsthand experience in treaty negotiations and technical committees for UN agencies. In his view, international agreements are merely opportunities for participants to manipulate the broader policy environment to their advantage.
Dourado has observed that countries often use their limited leverage in multilateral agreements to undermine American industries, circumvent sanctions, justify domestic illiberalism through international pretenses, or steer technology towards authoritarian directions. The impact of this dysfunction is mitigated by the fact that only a handful of major countries, not many smaller ones, will actually commit to binding themselves in meaningful ways that deviate from their narrow interests.
If a treaty proves inconvenient, it is often conveniently ignored or reinterpreted. Furthermore, the treaty delegates dealing with industrial issues typically represent the full range of special interests related to the topic, including those of the interagency, major laboratories, prominent tech companies, tech investors, civil society, among others.
Consequently, Dourado asserts that "international efforts" is not a comforting solution to the governance problem; rather, it is merely another significant, unresolved governance issue.
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