Admissibility as a policy tool

A guide to the techniques and institutions used to solve international disputes, how they work and when they are used. This textbook looks at diplomatic (negotiation, mediation, inquiry and conciliation) and legal methods (arbitration, judicial settlement). It uses many, often topical, examples of each method in practice to place the theory of how things should work in the context of real-life situations and to help the reader understand the strengths and weaknesses of different methods when they are used. It also looks at organisations such as the International Court and the United Nations and has been fully updated to include the most recent arbitrations, developments in the WTO and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, as well as case law from the International Court of Justice.

This book critically appraises the European Convention on Human Rights as it faces some daunting challenges. It argues that the Convention's core functions have subtly changed, particularly since the ending of the Cold War, and that these are now to articulate an 'abstract constitutional model' for the entire continent, and to promote convergence in the operation of public institutions at every level of governance. The implications - from national compliance, to European international relations, including the adjudication of disputes by the European Court of Human Rights - are fully explored. As the first book-length socio-legal examination of the Convention's principal achievements and failures, this study not only blends legal and social science scholarship around the theme of constitutionalization, but also offers a coherent set of policy proposals which both address the current case-management crisis and suggest ways forward neglected by recent reforms.