Foreign Policy Determinants of States’ Appeals to the International Court of Justice for the Settlement of Interstate Disputes.

International legal resolution of interstate disputes is a critical domain within International Relations, as it underpins global peace and security. Empirical evidence indicates that some states turn to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with a view to settling interstate disputes. This study investigates the characteristics of states that submit claims to international courts. Drawing on data from the ICJ, the Correlates of War project and Polity 4, the paper tests two hypotheses derived from rational choice/ expected utility theory and an alliance-based deterrence approach. By employing binary logistic regression, the findings reveal that militarily weaker states are more likely to favor international legal methods of resolving interstate disputes. The hypothesis has been confirmed that States that are not members of military-political blocs are more likely to resort to international legal methods for resolving interstate disputes. The analysis further demonstrates a positive association between dyads dominated by the civil law system and the propensity to seek judicial resolution. In contrast, the democratic regime factor is not statistically significant when it comes to filing claims with the ICJ, possibly due to their greater reliance on a third party or mediation. The results obtained contribute to understanding the motives and strategies of States in choosing peaceful means of resolving international disputes and can be used to develop more effective mechanisms for maintaining international peace and security.

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