John King Gamble Jr., Thesis Supervisor John King Gamble Jr., Thesis Supervisor Robert W. Speel, Faculty Reader John King Gamble Jr., Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
treaties multilateral treaties international law
Abstract:
This thesis explores the issues surrounding topic (subject) categories of treaties (e.g., economic, environmental, and humanitarian) and their application. The focus is on multilateral treaties and improving the topic categorization system in the Comprehensive Statistical Database of Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT). First, approaches to categorizing bodies of information are discussed, and then the categorization system of the CSDMT is explained, highlighting the problems. Existing categorization systems from treaty compilations are examined, and a new system for the CSDMT is detailed. After implementation of the new system, results are presented followed by additional suggestions.