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Some Limitations of Adjudication as an International Dispute Settlement Technique (From Resolving Transnational Disputes Through International Arbitraiton, P 3-14, 1984, Thomas E Carbonneau, ed. - See NCJ-98767)

NCJ Number
98768
Author(s)
r B Bilder
Date Published
1984
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Although there are international disputes appropriate for resolution through third party adjudication, the limitations of this method dictate that nations should use nonjudicial techniques to resolve international conflicts.
Abstract
Although there are occasions where adjudication might be preferable to nonjudicial techniques for resolving international disputes (such as disputes having exceptionally difficult factual and technical questions which make a viable compromise difficult), adjudication is generally not an appropriate forum for resolving international disputes. First, nations are not usually willing to submit significant issues to a 'win-lose' forum where a decision is unpredictable and possibly biased. Second, a forum which inevitably leaves one party the loser is not conducive to a positive ongoing relationship between the disputing nations. Third, judicial decisions may not deal with the real problems underlying international disputes. Fourth, where one party does not wish judicial settlement, efforts by the other party to force judicial settlement may increase bad feelings, freeze negotiating positions, and inhibit alternative attempts to reach solutions. Because of the many problems attending the adjudication of international disputes, nonjudicial techniques such as negotiation, mediation, and conciliation should be the primary focus of dispute settlement efforts. Eighteen footnotes are provided.