030197 KU Politics and Values in International Judicial Decisions and Procedures (2024S)

The class is addressed to law students with at least a basic knowledge of public international law (sources of international law, principles of international law, role of states and individuals). The class will focus on the analysis of several decisions rendered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during the last decades and evaluate what role politics and values play in the exercise of the Court's judicial function and how the Court exercises its procedural discretion in accommodating broader community/public order interests.

For many, international courts and tribunals are confined to their role of party-oriented and -dependent ‘dispute settlers’. Judicial avoidance tactics mark their approach when confronted with highly political questions. Yet, in absence of any centralized law-making or enforcement body, international judicial bodies also invariably shape the development of international law, at times expanding their judicial function to also engage in law-making or perhaps even the promotion of community interests such as the preservation of peace. Difficulties arise particularly in fields where policy and law might conflict, and where the traditional bilateral paradigm is exceeded. Pending cases such as South Africa v Israel or The Gambia v Myanmar demonstrate the potential but also difficulties of a shifting field of international dispute settlement.
Issues covered will include, e.g., how political conflicts might be settled by law, and how states and parties can politically exert influence on international judicial organs. Which type of cases are brought to the ICJ and why? What is the function of the ICJ as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations in the settlement of international disputes? To which extent does the ICJ foster the development of international law? How much discretion does the ICJ possess regarding the use of its procedural framework?