Case 290 - Inside the Water's Edge: The Senate Votes on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

Deibel, Terry L.

This multi-part case study tells the story of the first two weeks in October 1999, when the Republican Senate majority suddenly offered, and the Democrats accepted but then lost, a consent-to-ratification vote on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Although students will learn a good deal about the issues related to a comprehensive test ban, from seismic monitoring to stockpile stewardship, the case concentrates on the complex political maneuvering involving President Bill Clinton, the Democratic minority on the Hill, and internationalist and unilateralist factions within the Republican caucus in the Senate over the fate of the CTBT. It is a tale of conspiracy and incompetence, in which students will learn about the high politics of interbranch negotiations, the low politics of intraparty power struggles, and the importance of Senate rules and procedures.