Having reviewed the various ways of attempting to resolve international disputes individually, we are now in a position to consider what this survey as a whole demonstrates about the possibilities open to a state when confronted with a dispute, the factors which influence decisions on whether to use a particular procedure and the prospects for improving this situation in the future. To deal with these issues it will be necessary to consider separately some of the legal and political factors which form the context in which decisions relating to the conduct of disputes are taken, and then to suggest some ways of modifying or developing current methods of settlement with a view to making them more effective and easier to use. First, however, it may be useful to recall in brief outline what our study has revealed about the present situation.

Dispute settlement today

The idea that international disputes should be settled by peaceful means rather than by the use of force has a long history. From the survey in the preceding pages, however, it is clear that the attempt to devise techniques and institutions with this objective is a more recent phenomenon, much of what exists today having been created in a period of little more than 100 years. What has all the interest which states have shown in this subject succeeded in producing?