In this chapter, Sir Michael Wood examines the future of the international dispute settlement system. The core claim of this chapter is that continuity is, and will continue to be, this system’s defining feature. It observes that the fundamentals of inter-State disputes have changed little since 1920. Most notably, consent to third-party dispute settlement remains at the heart of the system, as does a widespread reluctance by sovereign States to give that consent in advance of disputes arising. The Optional Clause, for example, remains unchanged after 100 years, as does States’ unwillingness to accept it or to do so without extensive reservations. That said, and reflecting on the chapters contained in this collection, this chapter accepts that there have been new and important developments in the international dispute settlement system in recent years and, providing their promise is realised, they will perform a critical function in maintaining international peace and security.

This chapter analyzes the negotiations for the 1970 Friendly Relations Declaration, the high-water mark of efforts by socialist and non-aligned states to win support for an expansive interpretation of national self-determination. Lawyers and diplomats from industrialized states typically argued that the right to self-determination could be exercised in a number of different ways, including loose association or confederation. They also maintained that self-determination, understood as a human right, could be secured through adequate recognition within states and did not necessarily require secession. By contrast, those speaking on behalf of the states and peoples of Asia, Africa, and other zones of decolonization framed self-determination in more capacious terms, as a right to ‘economic’ no less than ‘political’ sovereignty. Arguing that formal independence meant little if decolonized states remained hampered by earlier arrangements, they called for an international redistribution of rights and resources. They also stressed that the right to self-determination permitted armed struggle against colonial and occupying powers. Crafted through close engagement with such arguments, the 1970 resolution formalized an unsteady compromise between these two approaches, encouraging self-determination but never so far as to destabilize a fragile interstate system undergoing extensive reconfiguration.

Chapter Three provides an overview of the supporting mechanisms under China’s Renewable Energy Law and their effects in driving large-scale renewable energy investment in China. This chapter provides an in-depth analysis of the contributing factors, mainly from legal and regulatory perspectives, to the curtailment of renewable energy in the Chinese context. It also discusses newly adopted administrative measures to facilitate the integration of renewable energy. This chapter sheds light on the limited role of market reform in achieving large-scale renewable energy penetration in China and highlights the future direction of market development based on the latest reform objectives.

By the end of 2022, the sanctions were voluminous. But the economic and other measures deployed against Russia were not as comprehensive as other sanctions regimes had been. Technically, the sanctions remained targeted. There was no comprehensive trade embargo, for example, against Russia by the United States or the European Union. Regulated parties, however, tended toward overcompliance; companies also ceased to do business with Russia for reputational reasons. These trends meant that the implementation of targeted sanctions often resembled comprehensive ones in practice. But the Russia sanctions were not so sweeping as those imposed upon Cuba, Iran, North Korea, or Syria, for instance.

This chapter examines the first idea-complex of equality and obligation evident in WTO law by identifying each of its constituent elements and their inter-relationship as a coherent whole, that is, the way they align and thread together. The WTO Agreement’s focus on equality and distributive justice begets a primary emphasis in law on obligation, which in turn gives rise to a constitutive structure that is prospectively oriented and reasoned deductively.