The Evolution of International Law and Courts

Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism, Orfeo Fioretos, Tulia G. Falleti, and Adam Sheingate, eds., Oxford University Press (Chapter 36, Forthcoming)

To be reprinted in Orfeo Fioretos, ed., International Politics and Institutions in Time (Oxford University Press, 2016)

iCourts Online Working Paper, No. 3, 2013

26 Pages Posted: 18 Oct 2013 Last revised: 7 Nov 2019

See all articles by Karen J. Alter

Karen J. Alter

Northwestern University - Department of Political Science; University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law - iCourts Center of Excellence

Date Written: September 19, 2014

Abstract

The creation and increased usage of permanent international courts to deal with a broad range of issues is a relatively new phenomenon. The founding dates of international courts suggests that three critical junctures were important in the creation of the contemporary international courts: the Hague Peace conferences and with it the larger movement to regulate inter-state relations through international legal conventions (1899-1927), the post-World War II explosion of international institutions (1945-1952), and the end of the Cold War (1990-2005). Examining the effects of these junctures and gradual changes in the practice of international jurisprudence, this chapter argues that the best way to understand the creation, spread and increased use of ‘new style’ international courts is by paying close attention to the major changes brought about through long-lasting slow processes of international institutional evolution.

Note: This paper has been revised. An earlier version was published in October 2013 with the title International Law and Courts: The Promise of Historical Institutional Analysis.

Suggested Citation

Alter, Karen J., The Evolution of International Law and Courts (September 19, 2014). Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism, Orfeo Fioretos, Tulia G. Falleti, and Adam Sheingate, eds., Oxford University Press (Chapter 36, Forthcoming), To be reprinted in Orfeo Fioretos, ed., International Politics and Institutions in Time (Oxford University Press, 2016), iCourts Online Working Paper, No. 3, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2341779 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2341779

Karen J. Alter (Contact Author)

Northwestern University - Department of Political Science ( email )

601 University Place
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law - iCourts Center of Excellence ( email )

Karen Blixens Plads 16
Copenhagen, DK-2300
Denmark

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