Evolving Dynamics of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Global Governance: A Legal Study of International Mechanisms and WTO Frameworks

Abstract

A change that has quietly transformed the architecture of international governance to date is that traditionally constructed as state-state diplomacy and adjudication. The change that is taking shape in the architecture of international governance is one that has integrated Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) techniques within the very fabric of international law itself. The thesis that follows is that the transition that has taken place from ADR as an ad hoc process to its acceptance within international law as an integral process has taken place due to the transition that has taken place within international law itself to one that has shifted philosophically to more interest-based conflict management processes rather than rights-based approaches to conflict management. The thesis proposition proceeds to explore the history that has defined the transposition that has taken place within international law to include ADR processes. It then proceeds to explore one such institution that has shifted to more ADR processes within international law. The institution that this paper chooses to explore is the World Trade Organization (WTO), which has one of the most judicialized dispute processes within international law but has integrated within its architecture processes that are germane to ADR. The paper further proceeds to explore the challenges that are arising within international law to implement ADR processes within international law due to challenges such as digital trade processes.