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How is this achieved? First of all, the monitoring arrangements frequently associated with regimes help limit the risk of parties either free-riding—enjoying the benefits of the regime without paying the associated costs—or defecting from the regime altogether. Secondly, the rules laid out in regimes help states achieve their objectives by providing mechanisms for the effective communication of information, knowledge, and experience. Thirdly, over time, regimes promote stability by allowing states to develop patterns of compliance within specific issue areas and forge a reputation for good behaviour that make them attractive partners for other mutually beneficial regimes in the future.

The Expansion of International Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984). 32 Barbed Wire Diplomacy what constitute the normative fabric of the international community evolve, so too do the agreed notions of such issues as diplomatic practice, international law, or the institution of sovereignty, and the basic normative judgements about how states ought to behave in the international arena. ‘English school’ theorists tend to play down the originality and singular significance of international regimes.

M. Wilson was reluctant to intern German soldiers seized when the Royal Navy intercepted two German hospital ships, the Gradisca and T¨ubingen, in the Adriatic in October 1944. ⁴⁰ By the final years of the war, the danger of linkage was particularly acute, not least after the Allies announced their intention to prosecute their adversaries for war crimes and German civilians were actively encouraged to retaliate against the indiscriminate bombing of their cities by lynching any Terrorflieger or Luftguerrila who came their way.