Summary and Conclusions

Although some scholars and practitioners of the Summit process have charged that the Summits were never intended to take concrete action on decisions reached, ¹ this study finds a strikingly different pattern. Over the last cycle of Summitry, there has been a substantial increase in compliance with Summit commitments. Within this period, the level of implementation has clearly varied by country, issue area and across time. This is due in large measure, to the effects of the core variables found in regime theory, concert theory, and the recent extension of regime theory to embrace national and international political institutions.