Measuring precision precisely: A dictionary-based measure of imprecision

Markus Gastinger, Henning Schmidtke

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftArtikelPeer-reviewed

Abstract

How can we measure and explain the precision of international organizations’ (IOs) founding treaties? We define precision by its negative – imprecision – as indeterminate language that intentionally leaves a wide margin of interpretation for actors after agreements enter into force. Compiling a “dictionary of imprecision” from almost 500 scholarly contributions and leveraging insight from linguists that a single vague word renders the whole sentence vague, we introduce a dictionary-based measure of imprecision (DIMI) that is replicable, applicable to all written documents, and yields a continuous measure bound between zero and one. To demonstrate that DIMI usefully complements existing approaches and advances the study of (im-)precision, we apply it to a sample of 76 IOs. Our descriptive results show high face validity and closely track previous characterizations of these IOs. Finally, we explore patterns in the data, expecting that imprecision in IO treaties increases with the number of states, power asymmetries, and the delegation of authority, while it decreases with the pooling of authority. In a sample of major IOs, we find robust empirical support for the power asymmetries and delegation propositions. Overall, DIMI provides exciting new avenues to study precision in International Relations and beyond.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)553-571
FachzeitschriftReview of International Organizations
Jahrgang18
Ausgabenummer3
Frühes Online-Datum22 Sept. 2022
DOIs
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 2023

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
Open access funding provided by Paris Lodron University of Salzburg. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 840135.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

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