Lunch seminar with Theresa Squatrito
Judging under Constraint: The Politics of International Courts and their Decision-Making
Abstract
Through their decisions, ICs have the capacity to declare states in contravention of their legal obligations, to alter the meaning, scope and hierarchy of international legal norms, and to facilitate the peaceful settlement of disputes. Yet, how ICs arrive at their decisions is not fully understood. The decision-making of some ICs is characterized by high levels of deference to states. This can be seen in judicial outcomes that favor respondent states, narrow legal interpretations, and remedies that are minimally intrusive on state sovereignty. On the other hand, other international courts are much less deferential to states through their decision-making. These courts are more inclined to declare states in violation of their legal obligations, to interpret the law broadly, and to apply remedies that intrude on state sovereignty. Why do some courts tend to defer and others not? I will present a book project that responds to these questions and develops a novel theoretical account of judicial deference. The project argues that judicial decision-making, examined in terms of deference, is determined by an international court’s strategic space. A combination of structural factors and judicial practices shape this strategic space by contributing to the credibility of state resistance and the legitimacy of ICs. Four factors are thus integral to explaining judicial decision-making: formal independence, political fragmentation, persuasive argumentation and public legitimation. This argument is evaluated through an empirical analysis of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACtHPR), the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the East African Court (CCJ).
Speaker bio
Dr Squatrito is an Assistant Professor in International Organizations in the Department of International Relations at LSE. Through the comparative study of international institutions, she contributes to debates on the institutional design, performance, and legitimacy of IOs and international courts (ICs). Currently, her research examines judicial decision-making of international courts. She edited the volume on The Performance of International Courts and Tribunals (Cambridge University Press). She has also previously published on judicial diplomacy, legitimation of international courts, access to international courts, and European legal integration, among other topics. Dr Squatrito received her PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle in Political Science. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oslo, PluriCourts Center from 2013-2017.
Meeting ID: 636 4903 0353
Passcode: 287386