Exit from International Tribunals: Have International Politics Been Over-Legalized?

Speaker:

Professor Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute, Geveva)

Chair:

Dr Danae Azaria (UCL Laws)

About this talk

The late nineties and early 2000s was a heady time for international law. State after state granted adjudication rights to an ever-growing number of international courts and tribunals. In this euphoric period, the fragmentation of international law was a key concern. Today, the pendulum has swung in the other direction. In different corners of the international legal system - ranging from the WTO Appellate Body and Investor-State Arbitration to the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court -- international adjudication is under attack, and states are seeking exit options.

What are the recurring drivers (and deterrents) of exit as well as the different outcomes that may result from exit pressure? In a time of growing populism, and its associated backlash against international law and courts in general, it is easy to lay the blame for tribunal exit at the feet of parochial national leaders. Yet, this represents an oversimplification of the exit story. Changes at both the state and tribunal levels are fuelling the push towards exit. State-centred drivers of populist ideology and the weight of sovereignty costs undoubtedly play a role. But tribunals, and those operating around them, need to take some share of the responsibility too.

About the Speaker:

Joost Pauwelyn is Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where he is also Co-Director of the Institute’s Centre for Trade and Economic Integration (CTEI).  In addition, Joost is Murase Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown Law Center (since 2014), President of the Geneva-based NGO www.tradelab.org and Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of International Economic Law.

Before joining the Graduate Institute, Joost was a tenured professor at Duke Law School (2002-2008), served as legal officer at the WTO (1996-2002) and practiced law at a major Brussels law firm. 

Joost advises governments and non-state actors in dispute settlement under the WTO and FTAs and investor-state arbitration.  From 2007 to 2014 he was Senior Advisor with the law firm of King & Spalding LLP. 

He was appointed on the roster of WTO panelists and as arbitrator under FTAs and the Energy Charter Treaty. Joost is a Member of the ICSID Panel of Conciliators. He received degrees from the Universities of Namur and Leuven as well as Oxford University and the University of Neuchâtel.

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