Indeed, always ready to negotiate treaties but rarely prepared to sign – and even less likely to ratify – them, the US remains absent from such key global agreements as the Kyoto Protocol, the Mine Ban Treaty, and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Its inspired creativity and support in building formal institutions like the United Nations and World Bank has given way to a predilection for weak, informal, and ad hoc groupings, such as the various G-somethings and “coalitions of the willing.”
事实上，美国永远准备谈判条约，但很少愿意签署——批准的情况就更少了——这使得美国仍游离于京都议定书、禁止地雷公约和联合国海洋法宣言等全球协定之外。其在建立联合国和世界银行等正式机构上所表现出来的灵光一现的创造力和支持让位给了对孱弱、非正式和临时性组织的偏好，比如各种“G-某”集团和“意愿联盟”。