No longer are sovereign states the exclusive parties to international disputes. In some disputes, individuals, private and corporate, are among the parties. International agreements among states increasingly grant enforceable rights to private parties as well as to states. In addition, partly due to the rise of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and the growing activism of other non-state organizations in the role of advocates (and sometimes, litigants) for various transnational interests , there is a view that enforceable legal rights may arise in international law from sources other than the agreement or practice of sovereign states.
Whatever the nature of an international dispute, however, it will most frequently revolve around a question of the rights and responsibilities of one or more sovereign states or international organizations. In this blog, therefore, we will report and comment on the way that international disputes and their resolution affect the dimensions of state sovereignty. The blog will include reference sources, comments, and current developments. Our perspective is that of lawyers and experts with long experience as advisors and advocates for states, sub-state entities and individuals who have been parties to international disputes. Our approach is that of practitioners, not academics, and it is consistently grounded in international law.
