Conclusion (the treaty's life-cycle — the sequence to master):
1. Full powers (Articles 7–8): the credentials of negotiators (or the customary exceptions: heads of state/government/foreign ministers ex officio);
2. Adoption and authentication (Articles 9–10): the text's adoption (consensus the modern practice — the Vienna Convention's own precedent) and authentication (initialling/signature adreferendum);
3. Expression of consent (Articles 11–17): by signature (definitive), exchange ofinstruments, ratification, acceptance/approval, or accession — the state's choice per the treaty's terms;
4. Ratification (Articles 14–16, 18): the domestic-authorization-then-international-confirmation step: the constitutional process (Nepal's Article 279 below) → the instrument's deposit (with the depositary — a state or the UN Secretary-General) → entry into force per the treaty's terms; Article 18's interim obligation — a signatory to refrain from defeating the treaty's object before ratification.
Reservation (Articles 19–23): a state's unilateral statement, however phrased,purporting to exclude or modify the legal effect of certain provisions in their application to that state — the price of universality (wide participation with tailored obligations). Rules: permitted unless prohibited by the treaty, incompatible with the object and purpose, or(in treaty practice) expressly excluded (Article 19); other states' acceptance/objection (Articles 20–21 — the human-rights covenants' "object and purpose" objections being the classic battleground; the ICJ's Genocide Convention Advisory Opinion (1951) legitimating reservations' practice); severability and the reservation's effects on treaty relations (Article 21's calculus).
Termination, withdrawal, suspension (Articles 54–64):by the treaty's terms or consent (Articles 54–55); material breach (Article 60 — a serious violation inviting suspension/termination in relations with the breaching party); supervening impossibility (Article 61 — the island that disappears); fundamental change (Article 62 — above); jus cogens (Articles 53/64); the procedure's safeguards (Article 65's notification-and-objection sequence; disputes to the ICJ/ conciliation); desuetude (the treaty dead by disuse and contrary practice — the extra- conventional end).