Introduction

Disputes are inextricably linked to international relations. Increasingly these disputes are no longer just primarily between states but also between states and other parties like international organizations and other non-state actors, and between these actors mutually. In this context the Charter of the United Nations (UN) plays a major role, in particular, regarding disputes between states. Article 2(3) of the UN Charter states that all Member States have to settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered. This view was again confirmed in 1982 in a resolution (Res. 37/10) of the UN General Assembly, the so-called Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes.

As the UN Charter does not prescribe in which way or by what means disputes need to be resolved, the parties are free to choose their dispute settlement mechanism. In the framework of international peace and security Article 33 of the UN Charter provides a number of alternatives to choose from in resolving disputes, e.g., negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and judicial settlement. Notwithstanding the free choice of means the Manila Declaration underlines the legal obligation of parties to find a peaceful solution to their dispute and refrain from action that might aggravate the situation. The methods and procedures of dispute settlement for states also largely apply to non-state actors. These various forms of peaceful dispute settlement are the subject of this general research guide. In addition, there are research guides available on International (commercial) Arbitration, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and the International Court of Justice. Information and resources on disputes concerning foreign investment and investment arbitration can be found in the research guide on Foreign Direct Investment.

This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on the subject. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library's systematic classification → Public international law and subject headings (keywords) Pacific settlement of international disputes, International dispute settlement, International mediation, and Judicial settlement of international disputes are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.

New titles

The Peace Palace Library has a collection of over a million publications. Each week, about six hundred new titles are added to our collection: books, articles, documents, online publications, etc. On this page, access is provided to this week’s new titles on Settlement of international disputes. It covers both means, procedures and activities.

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Bibliography

New titles

Librarian's choice

• Squatrito, T. (et al.) (eds.), The Performance of International Courts and Tribunals, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018. [e-book]

  

  International courts and tribunals now operate globally and in several world regions, playing significant roles in international law and global governance. However, these courts vary significantly in terms of their practices, procedures, and the outcomes they produce. Why do some international courts perform better than others? Which factors affect the outcome of these courts and tribunals? The Performance of International Courts and Tribunals is an interdisciplinary study featuring approaches, methods and authorship from law and political science, which proposes the concept of performance to describe the processes and outcomes of international courts. It develops a framework for evaluating and explaining performance by offering a broad comparative analysis of international courts, covering several world regions and the areas of trade, investment, the environment, human rights and criminal law, and offers interdisciplinary accounts to explain how and why international court performance varies.

   

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• Grossman, N. (et al.) (eds.), Legitimacy and International Courts, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018. [e-book]

  

  One of the most noted developments in international law over the past twenty years is the proliferation of international courts and tribunals. They decide who has the right to exploit natural resources, define the scope of human rights, delimit international boundaries and determine when the use of force is prohibited. As the number and influence of international courts grow, so too do challenges to their legitimacy. This volume provides new interdisciplinary insights into international courts' legitimacy: what drives and undermines the legitimacy of these bodies? How do drivers change depending on the court concerned? What is the link between legitimacy, democracy, effectiveness and justice? Top international experts analyse legitimacy for specific international courts, as well as the links between legitimacy and cross-cutting themes. Failure to understand and respond to legitimacy concerns can endanger both the courts and the law they interpret and apply.

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• Schabas, W.A., and S. Murphy (eds.), Research Handbook on International Courts and Tribunals, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017.

  

  Since the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration for international dispute resolution in 1899, the number of international courts and tribunals has multiplied and the reach of their jurisdiction has steadily expanded. By providing a synthetic overview and critical analysis of these developments from multiple perspectives, this Research Handbook both contextualizes and stimulates future research and practice in this rapidly developing field. Made up of specially commissioned chapters by leading and emerging scholars, the book takes a thematic and interpretive, system-wide and inter-jurisdictional comparative approach to the main issues, debates and controversies related to the growth of international courts and tribunals. Its review of influential international judgements traverses the areas of international peace and security law, international human rights law, international criminal law and international economic law, while also including critical reflection by practitioners. This nuanced review of the latest thinking on scholarly debates and controversies in international courts and tribunals will be both a key resource for academic researchers and a concise introduction to the subject for post-graduate students.

   

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• Benvenisti, E., and G.W. Downs, Between Fragmentation and Democracy: The Role of National and International Courts, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017.

  

  Between Fragmentation and Democracy explores the phenomenon of the fragmentation of international law and global governance following the proliferation of international institutions with overlapping jurisdictions and ambiguous boundaries. The authors argue that this problem has the potential to sabotage the evolution of a more democratic and egalitarian system and identify the structural reasons for the failure of global institutions to protect the interests of politically weaker constituencies. This book offers a comprehensive understanding of how new global sources of democratic deficits increasingly deprive individuals and collectives of the capacity to protect their interests and shape their opportunities. It also considers the role of the courts in mitigating the effects of globalization and the struggle to define and redefine institutions and entitlements. This book is an important resource for scholars of international law and international politics, as well as for public lawyers, political scientists, and those interested in judicial reform.

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• Alter, K.J., and L.R. Helfer (eds.), Transplanting International Courts: The Law and Politics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2017.

  

  Transplanting International Courts: The Law and Politics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice provides a deep, systematic investigation of the most active and successful transplant of the European Court of Justice. The Andean Tribunal is effective by any plausible definition of the term, but only in the domain of intellectual property law. Alter and Helfer explain how the Andean Tribunal established its legal authority within and beyond this intellectual property island, and how Andean judges have navigated moments of both transnational political consensus and political contestation over the goals and objectives of regional economic integration. By letting member states set the pace and scope of Andean integration, by condemning unequivocal violations of Andean rules, and by allowing for the coexistence of national legislation and supranational authority, the Tribunal has retained its fidelity to Andean law while building relationships with nationally-based administrative agencies, lawyers, and judges. Yet the Tribunals circumspect and formalist approach means that, unlike in Europe, community law is not an engine of integration. The Tribunals strategy has also limited its influence within the Andean legal system. The authors also revisit their own path-breaking scholarship on the effectiveness of international adjudication. Alter and Helfer argue that the European Court of Justice benefitted in underappreciated ways from the support of transnational jurist advocacy movements that are absent or poorly organized in the Andes and elsewhere in the world. The Andean Tribunals longevity despite these and other challenges offers guidance for international courts in other developing country contexts. Moreover, given that the Andean Community has weathered member state withdrawals and threats of exit, major economic and political crises, and the retrenchment of core policies such as the common external tariff, the Andean experience offers timely and important lessons for European international courts.

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• Brilmayer, L. (et al.), International Claims Commissions: Righting Wrongs after Conflict, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017.

  

  International claims commissions have, over the last few decades, established themselves as important and permanent fixtures in international adjudication. This book provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the workings and mechanics of claims commissions to assess their success and predict their utility in the future. The authors examine the legal framework of an international claims commission and the basic elements its processing procedure, as well as exploring the difficulties and challenges associated with operating costs, remedies and compliance with judgments. International claims commissions are created ad hoc to consider large numbers of complex legal claims resulting from an international upheaval, making them important international dispute resolution mechanisms. By focusing in large part on the examples set by the United Nations Claims Commissions, the Iran US Claims Tribunal, and the Eritrea Ethiopia Claims Commission, the authors assess the reasons to establish a claims commission by discussing their legal and operating structures, issues related to evidence and costs and the challenges and successes of creating them. The book concludes with a detailed analysis of lessons learnt to guide policy makers in the creation of future claims commissions.

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• Cremona, M. (et al.) (eds.), The European Union and International Dispute Settlement, Portland, OR, Hart Publishing, 2017.

  

  This monograph explores the connections between the European Union and international dispute settlement. It highlights the legal challenges faced by the principal players in the field: namely the EU as a political actor and the Court of Justice of the EU as an international and domestic judiciary. In addition, it places the subject in its broader context of international dispute settlement, and the participation of the EU and its Member States in international disputes. It focuses on horizontal and cross-cutting themes, bringing together insights from the different sectors of trade, investment and human rights, and offering a variety of perspectives from academics, policymakers and practitioners.

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• Kotuby Jr., C.T., and L.A. Sobota, General Principles of Law and International Due Process: Principles and Norms Applicable in Transnational Disputes, New York, NY, Oxford University Press, 2017.

  

  In 1953, Bin Cheng wrote his seminal book on general principles, identifying core legal principles common to various domestic legal systems across the globe. This monograph summarizes and analyzes the general principles of law and norms of international due process, with a particular focus on developments since Cheng's writing. The aim is to collect and distill these principles and norms in a single volume as a practical resource for international law jurists, advocates, and scholars. The information contained in this book holds considerable importance given the growth of inter-state intercourse resulting in the increased use of general principles over the past 60 years. General principles can serve as rules of decision, whether in interpreting a treaty or contract, determining causation, or ascertaining unjust enrichment. They also include a core set of procedural requirements that should be followed in any adjudicative system, such as the right to impartiality and the prohibition on fraud. Although the general principles are, by definition, basic and even rudimentary, they hold vital importance for the rule of law in international relations. They are meant not to define a rule of law, but rather the rule of law.

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• Gallus, N., Temporal Jurisdiction of International Tribunals, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2017.

  

  The period of an international tribunal's temporal jurisdiction is the span of time during which an act must have occurred before the tribunal may consider if the act breached an obligation. There are many questions concerning this particular aspect of an international tribunal's jurisdiction: Does a tribunal have power over acts that occurred after the entry into force of the obligation allegedly breached, but before the tribunal's jurisdiction was accepted? What about acts that began before the tribunal's jurisdiction was accepted but continued after? To what extent can acts before the period of the tribunal's jurisdiction affect its decision on whether or not there is a breach through acts afterwards? The Temporal Jurisdiction of International Tribunals examines these questions in depth. Despite its importance, the temporal jurisdiction of international tribunals is not well understood. Tribunals often confuse different aspects of their jurisdiction and refuse to hear cases they should have heard, or agree to hear cases they should not. This book reduces this confusion by clarifying the different limits on the temporal jurisdiction of international tribunals and the important distinctions between those limits. The book examines the temporal limits resulting from (i) the entry into force of the obligation supposedly breached, (ii) the acceptance of the tribunal's jurisdiction, and (iii) from the period of limitation, as well as the effect of acts that occurred before these limits. Throughout the book, the author comprehensively compares decisions from a wide variety of sources, including the International Court of Justice, Human Rights Courts, World Trade Organization panels, and investment treaty tribunals.

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• Buggenhoudt, C., Common Interests in International Litigation: A Case Study on Natural Resource Exploitation Disputes, Cambridge, Intersentia, 2017.

  

  How are common interests protected in international dispute settlement? What is the role of different courts and tribunals? Why is the case law on common interests (in)consistent? Do we need more consistency for a better protection of common interests? The study provides answers to questions that arise in international litigation as a result of an increasing recognition of common interests in this field and an ever-expanding network of specialised judicial bodies. This book studies the case law of a number of international courts, focusing on international litigation concerning natural resource exploitation. This is a theme closely linked to a number of common interests, one which has been considered by a number of courts dealing with human rights, international security, international trade, international investment, the law of the sea, and more.

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• Shany, Y., Questions of Jurisdiction and Admissibility before International Courts, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016.

  

  This examination of the jurisdiction of international courts and the admissibility of cases before them analyses jurisdictional and admissibility rules in light of the roles assumed by international courts in international life and in light of the roles that jurisdictional and admissibility rules play in promoting the effectiveness and legitimacy of international courts. The theory pursued views jurisdiction as a form of delegation of power (the power to exercise judicial power and decide the law) and regards admissibility as a framework for deciding upon the propriety of exercising such power. On the basis of this theoretical framework, the author critically evaluates the exercise of judicial discretion in the existing case law of a variety of international courts, distinguishing between the category-based case selection implicit in jurisdictional rules and the case-by-case analysis and selection implicit in rules on admissibility.

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• Beckman, R. (et al.), Promoting Compliance : The Role of Dispute Settlement and Monitoring Mechanisms in ASEAN Instruments, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016.

  

  The reputation and achievement of the ASEAN Community hinges on compliance. This seminal book discusses whether ASEAN's faith in dispute settlement and monitoring mechanisms as a means to better compliance is justified and delves into the extent to which they can facilitate ASEAN Community building. It provides the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of ASEAN's compliance with its instruments, and enables readers to see ASEAN as an organisation increasingly based on law and institutions. Readers will also learn how ASEAN balances a thin line between law and institutions on the one hand and diplomacy and realism on the other. Scholars of adjudicatory mechanisms will find this book a fascinating addition to the literature available, and it will serve as a 'go-to' reference for ASEAN state agencies.

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Database

Blogs

• Book Review: War, Peace and International Order?

  This book attempts to assess the history and on-going relevance of the 1899 and 1907 Hague peace conferences, the conventions they brought into being, the institutions they established and the precedents they set. The exact legacies of the two conferences remain unclear. On the one hand, diplomatic and military historians, who cast their gaze to 1914, traditionally dismiss the events of 1899 and 1907 as insignificant footnotes on the path to the First World War. On the other, experts in international law posit that The Hague’s foremost legacy lies in the manner in which the conferences progressed the law of war and the concept and application of international justice.

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• Essequibo, the Territorial Dispute between Venezuela and Guyana

  The Essequibo (in Spanish, Esequibo), is an undeveloped, sparsely populated but resource-rich jungle territory region, nearly sixty percent of modern Guyana, consisting of all its territory west of the Essequibo River (see map). Venezuela’s deeply rooted belief is that the Essequibo region was unjustly taken from them by meddling foreign powers. It is a matter of national integrity, made more alluring by the possible wealth of natural resources there. Guyana’s position is that they are trying to defend the land that has been part of their country for almost 200 years, land they need to help develop their country economically.

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• Building a 'Temple for Peace': the Choice of the Site

  The Treaty for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, concluded on 29 July 1899, determined that the newly created Permanent Court of Arbitration was to be established at The Hague. As Andrew Carnegie’s gift of 1903 was meant primarily for the erection of a new and appealing court house and library to serve its arbiters, there could be no argument, as to where this ‘Temple for Peace’ was to be built. It should be at The Hague. But where in The Hague precisely was quite another thing.

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• Bolivia’s Centenarian Maritime Claim before the International Court of Justice

  Despite losing its maritime coast, the so-called Littoral Department, after the War of the Pacific, Bolivia has historically maintained, as a state policy, a maritime claim to Chile. The claim asks for sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean and its maritime space. The Political Constitution of 2009 established that Bolivia declares its right to access to the sea, and that its objective is to solve the problem peacefully. Therefore, on 24 April 2013, Bolivia instituted proceedings against Chile before the International Court of Justice. A guest blog by Elizabeth Santalla Vargas.

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• Building a ‘Temple for Peace’: Inspired Advocates and a Philanthropist

  Shortly after the 1899 Hague Peace Conference had ended, William T. Stead, a highly energetic and respected British journalist and pacifist who had followed the peace conference as an observer, and Andrew D. White, the American head of delegation and ambassador in Germany, convinced the Scottish-born American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to finance the ‘Temple for Peace’ that was to become the Peace Palace in The Hague.

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• ARGO and the Follow-Up: Iran and the United States

  33 Years after the event, Hollywood has turned its attention to an episode that traumatized the United States for months: the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran. As the US Embassy falls to a group of Islamist students and militants in support of the Iranian revolution and in retaliation for the USA’s sheltering of the recently deposed Shah, six diplomats slip out and seek sanctuary in the Canadian’s ambassador’s residence. It is up to the CIA’s Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to extract them from the country before they are discovered by the Revolutionary Guards. The plan? Create a fake movie, called Argo, and pretend they’re the crew.

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• Shabtai Rosenne Memorial Lecture

  On Thursday, 24 November the first Shabtai Rosenne Memorial Lecture, delivered by Professor Malcolm N. Shaw Q.C., Senior Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, took place at the Peace Palace in The Hague, a little more than a year after Professor Rosenne’s death. In his lecture entitled, “The Peaceful Settlement of Disputes: Paradigms, Plurality and Policy”, Professor Shaw gave an overview of where he thought dispute resolution was at the moment.

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• The Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation in The Hague

  The Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation seeks to promote tolerance and reconciliation through helping scholars from different sides of a conflict work together to research and write narratives that can be shared among communities or peoples in conflict. Through this process of shared work, a better understanding of “the other” is gained by both sides.

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• Abyei Arbitration Award

  On Wednesday 22 July, the Arbitral Tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rendered its final Award [PDF] in the case between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) concerning the delimitation of the boundaries of the Abyei Area. The arbitration is based on an Arbitration Agreement between the Parties that was deposited with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on 11 July 2008.

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• Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v. Ukraine)

  On Tuesday 3 February 2009 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rendered its Judgment in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v. Ukraine). A public sitting took place at 10 a.m. at the Peace Palace in The Hague, during which the President of the Court, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, read the Court’s Judgment.

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Links

See also

More Research guides on Settlement of International Disputes

• International Arbitration
• International Court of Justice
• Permanent Court of Arbitration

PPL keywords

• International dispute settlement
• Judicial settlement of international disputes