Treaty rules work best when participants continue to accept them and weaken when a state withdraws or violates them. British domestic weapons regulation serves as an analogy for a closed system that can control access and impose consequences. International relations do not form the same kind of closed system: outside states can build arms, and members can leave. Any judgment of a naval treaty therefore has to consider who remains bound by it and which penalties are credible. The analogy is an explanatory model, not proof that domestic law and international arms control work alike.
Notable Point · 1:47:37-1:55:50
Treaty limits need credible enforcement
Arms-control agreements restrain willing members only while they remain within a system able to enforce its rules.