Manifestly absurd or unreasonable?: The reinterpretation of the ABM Treaty

Hodgkinson, David (1996) Manifestly absurd or unreasonable?: The reinterpretation of the ABM Treaty. Masters by Research thesis, Murdoch University.

Abstract

This thesis examines the two competing interpretations of the Treaty on the Limitation of Antiballistic Missile Systems (the "ABM Treaty") and establishes which of these interpretations is the correct one. It applies the principles of treaty interpretation as provided for in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and, through that application, it shows that the correct interpretation of the ABM Treaty is the narrow one. It is established here that the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from an analysis of the treaty as a whole, taking into account its object and purpose, the plain, ordinary meaning of its terms, the scheme of the treaty and its history, is that only a narrow reading of that treaty is tenable.

The sources of information used in this thesis include international conventions and treaties; decisions of national and international courts which have concerned such conventions and treaties; reports and publications of the United States government; and such secondary sources of information as books, monographs and journal articles. In particular, I have used records of proceedings and debates on the ABM Treaty, and reports tabled with regard to that treaty, in the United States Senate. Above all, I have had recourse to the text of the ABM Treaty itself. This thesis is my own account of my research; the work of others has been used only where appropriate in the course of the proper development of the thesis.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters by Research)
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Social Sciences
Notes:	Note to the author: If you would like to make your thesis openly available on Murdoch University Library's Research Repository, please contact: repository@murdoch.edu.au. Thank you.
Supervisor(s):	Makinda, Samuel
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/51245

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