36 The approved Restoration (fourth) project is remarkably silent on the issue of interchangeability, but there is no evidence that this silence supports those who argue against interchangeability. The authors of the Restatement (fourth) make it clear that they focus only on The Article II treaties and that they are not recipients of other international agreements. See Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, p. 113, note 8 of journalists (March 20, 2017). So far, there seems to be little sign of change in the scientific debate. See z.B. Bradley, Curtis A., Exiting Congressional-Executive Agreements, 67 Duke L.J. 1615 (2018) (contracts and executive agreements of Congress are considered largely interchangeable even after the adoption of the Restoration (fourth) project. Other areas in which treaties are widespread are legal aid, agreements to crack down on transnational crime, such as drug trafficking, money laundering and stolen passports; “taxes,” which mainly include double taxation and tax disclosure agreements; and “property,” including agreements for the return of stolen vehicles and the transfer of real estate. If we consider only themes, it seems difficult to explain the application of the treaty in a coherent dimension. If we believe, for example, that treaties are particularly prevalent in important agreements, we might expect them to be often used in national security and defence agreements.

Footnote 98 However, only 1% of defence agreements are concluded in the form of a contract. In the meantime, crime prevention, which is often thought to be a lower priority than national security, includes a much larger proportion of contracts. During the first half-century of its independence, the United States participated in sixty treaties, but only 27 published executive agreements. At the beginning of the Second World War, there were about 800 treaties and 1,200 executive treaties. During the period 1940-1989, the nation entered into 759 contracts and issued 13,016 executive contracts. In total, in 1989, the United States was parties to 890 contracts and 5,117 executive contracts. In relative terms, in the first 50 years of its history, the United States has twice as many treaties as executive agreements.