Adjudication: International Arbitral Tribunals and Courts

This essay, a chapter in a U.S. Institute of Peace sponsored study of various methods and techniques for seeking to manage or resolve international disputes and conflicts, focuses on the role of international adjudication as a method of international dispute settlement. The chapter discusses inter alia: (1) some broad caveats regarding the usefulness of international adjudication, as compared with other the techniques of international dispute settlement, the somewhat different role of adjudication in national legal orders, the preference for non-adversarial methods in some – particularly non-western - societies, and the historic ambivalence of the U.S. government towards international adjudication; (2) the nature of international adjudication, including a description of how international arbitration and international judicial settlement typically operate and the factors that may influence states in choosing between them; (3) a detailed description of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), its jurisdiction, its work, and U.S. attitudes towards the Court; (4) the question whether there are now too many international tribunals; (5) the advantages and disadvantages of adjudication as a dispute management technique; (6) the reasons why the author believes international adjudication deserves the international community’s encouragement and support, and (7) a list of measures that might be taken to facilitate and encourage the use of international adjudication.