複數合作的困境：論國際多邊合作下的義務履行與背離

在一項多邊性質的國際合作中，某些參與國可能具有義務衝突（或利益交纏）之現象，本文稱之為「複數合作的困境」。這個現象會提高某一特定議題領域（issue area）的多邊國際合作面臨失敗之風險。換句話說，當具有衝突關係的兩種（或以上）義務（或利益）彼此難以調和或只能選擇其一履行時，那些同時參與二以上國際多邊合作的主權國家就很難避免不去背離自己所參與之某項國際合作中的義務，從而導致義務未獲履行的國際多邊合作難以展現預期效能。本文初步的研究結果顯示，同時兼具WHO與WTO會員身分的國家（或個別關稅領域）有過半以上優先履行貿易自由化的義務，或是消極不履行與跨境防疫有關之義務。此現象嚴重弱化WHO作為全球公衛治理核心機制的功能。

In multilateral international cooperation, some participating countries may experience conflicts of obligations (or intertwined interests), which this paper calls the“dilemma of multiple cooperations.”Such a dilemma increases the risk of failure in multilateral international cooperation. In other words, when two or more conflicting obligations (or interests) cannot be reconciled, forcing a choice between them, countries participating in multiple international cooperations find it challenging to avoid breaching commitments in one of the cooperations they are involved in. Consequently, this leads to the failure of international multilateral cooperation to fulfill its expected functions. The preliminary research finding indicates that over half of the actors holding dual membership in the WHO and WTO prioritized fulfilling their“trade liberalization”obligations or neglected their cross-border epidemic prevention obligations. This phenomenon significantly undermines the WHO’s role as the core mechanism for global public health governance.