International law has made remarkable progress during the last decades. But law-making is one thing, ensuring compliance quite another. While the enthusiasm and support for international law-making are considerable, caution and mistrust soon re-emerge when disputes arise over implementation. To persuade member States of the OSCE to resort to international conciliation and arbitration, there must be the will to use the Court on the part of States. This work takes stock of the obstacles, whether they be institutional (different mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes), structural (actual limitations to the settlement of disputes between States) or relate to competition (between means of diplomatic settlement and adjudication).
This work is based on a Symposium held in Geneva to mark the Constitution of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration within the OSCE. The contributions deal in particular with a variety of topics which could arise within the framework of the new OSCE Court, such as political and judicial means of settlement, subsidiarity of the new Court, and conciliation and arbitration before that Court.