Adamczyk, Brendan2020-12-092020-12-092020-05https://hdl.handle.net/1794/2592544 pagesAll countries face numerous environmental problems, from air and ocean pollution to the existential threat posed by climate change and many more. In response, many nations have negotiated and joined international environmental agreements to alter the policies of governments, the behaviors of their citizens, and the quality of their national and the global environment. I summarize and assess theories related to two research questions. First, how do scholars define the effectiveness of international environmental agreements? Second, what are the metrics by which scholars can assess the structure and effectiveness of an international environmental agreement? I seek to answer these questions by conducting a review of international environmental governance literature from the past three decades using a counterfactual framework - comparing what occurred in the real world with a treaty in effect to what one would have expected to happen if that treaty didn’t exist. Ultimately, I conclude that three key elements influence the effectiveness of international environmental agreements: the standards by which one measures effectiveness, the degree to which the language of an agreement utilizes legalization, flexibility, and specificity, and the tools environmental regimes use to encourage states to meet their commitments. In the face of increasingly urgent environmental challenges, the most promising path for improving effectiveness is the integration of these three essential factors into the treaty writing, ratification, and enforcement processes.enCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USInternational treatiesInternational agreementsEnvironmental agreementsIEAsInternational environmental agreementsThesis / Dissertation