New Journal of International Dispute Settlement

Oxford University Press will publish a new Journal of International Dispute Settlement from 2010 onwards. The General Editors will be Geneva based scholars Gabrielle Kaufman-K0hler and Joost Pauwelyn, with Thomas Schultz being the Managing Editor. 

Since the 1980s, a radical development has taken place in international dispute settlement. The number of international courts, tribunals and other international dispute resolution mechanisms has increased dramatically. The number of international disputes resolved by such means has risen in even greater proportions. These disputes more and more frequently raise issues that combine private and public international law, effectively bringing back to light the deep-seated interactions that have always existed between these two traditional fields of academic study. The regulatory impact of certain branches of international dispute settlement – such as international arbitration – further create the need to take a step back and think about where we are going. The growth of the field of international dispute settlement in practice, the novelty and significance of the issues posed, and the originality of the academic angle from which such issues need to be addressed are the factors that triggered the launch of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement.

JIDS defines its mission according to these developments. It is primarily designed to encourage interest in issues of enduring importance and to highlight significant trends in the field of international dispute settlement. Heavyweight and reflective articles will find preference over news-driven works. In addition to strictly legal approaches, the journal’s purview encompasses studies inspired by legal sociology, legal philosophy, the history of law, law and political science, and law and economics. It covers all forms of international dispute settlement and focuses particularly on developments in private and public international law that carry commercial, economic and financial implications. The main subjects that will be dealt with are international commercial and investment arbitration, WTO dispute resolution, diplomatic dispute settlement, the settlement of international political disputes over economic matters in the UN, as well as international negotiation and mediation. Particular attention will be paid to questions that involve a combination of private and public international law.

JIDS will address procedural issues that arise in international dispute resolution procedures, such as provisional measures; the consensual character of jurisdiction; evidence; amicus curiae interventions; res judicata, lis pendens and double fora; the procedural influence of human rights; experts and witnesses; interpretation, revision and challenge of awards and decisions; recognition and enforcement, etc. Comparative approaches, which are attentive to the different ways that these issues are dealt with in different types of dispute resolution procedures, are of particular interest.

The journal will also include substantive aspects pertaining to those fields of the law that are shaped by international courts and tribunals, be they of an interstate, private or mixed character. Hence, substantive issues in international economic law and international investment law will be considered, so long as the link to international dispute settlement is clearly established. This will include questions of substantive law properly speaking, but also more general aspects of the substantive evolution of international law, covering issues such as the proliferation of international dispute settlement mechanisms and the ensuing fragmentation of international law.

JIDS is intended not only for academics with an interest in international dispute settlement, international arbitration, private or public international law. It is also intended for practitioners who are looking for a single source that captures the fundamental trends with the field, allowing them to anticipate new issues and new ways to resolve them. Graduate and post-graduate students, government officials, in-house lawyers dealing with international disputes, and people working for international courts and tribunals and for international arbitration institutions should also find interest in this journal.

The contents of the first two issues of the Journal can be found here.