Global Litigation
Over the last decades, the participation of State and non-State actors in the process of international law-making has become one of the basic features of international law. Recent changes also include the participation of new actors and a more influential role of the judicial bodies attached to IGOs. As multifunctional actors, international courts and tribunals (ICTs) perform important functions, such as the development of normative expectations. Therefore, the role of ICTs encompass the protection and development of the international community and its values.
Research Projects
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Expanding access to international justice: The participation of State and Non-State Actors before international courts and tribunals;
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Community interests and access to the International Court of Justice via the advisory function;
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Third-party intervention and compliance with decisions of the International Court of Justice (in collaboration with prof. Serena Forlati, University of Ferrara);
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Community Interests and erga omnes parte obligations before the International Court of Justice;
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Non-State Actors and Investment Arbitration: the participation of State and NSA in community interest cases.
LATIN TALES
The LATIN TALES project explores and analyzes the narratives presented by Latin American states before International Courts and Tribunals (ICTs), with a particular focus on cases involving community interests at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). As an interdisciplinary initiative, LATIN TALES examines how these narratives can be seen as part of broader political contexts and serve as strategic tools of foreign legal policy, often reflecting the international priorities and interests of the countries that employ them.
To identify recurring themes and divergences among states’ narratives, the research applies a multi-method approach in five different stages:
(i) literature review to provide context and outline the theoretical assumptions guiding the project’s main concepts and working definitions;
(ii) quantitative collection of data on participation of states, in general, and of Latin American states, in particular, at ICTs in order to identify relevant contentious cases and advisory proceedings;
(iii) qualitative analysis to map the political stance of Latin American states connected to the community interests involved in contentious cases and advisory proceedings at ICTs;
(iv) qualitative analysis of legal arguments, via categorical content analysis of the documents submitted to ICTs by Latin American states in each of the selected community interests’ cases;
(v) empirical analysis via the conduction of semi-structured interviews with relevant actors to the selected contentious cases and advisory proceedings in order to identify nuances in the narratives addressed before ICTs and the strategies applied in such cases.
Narratives and Global South
A pilot study of LATIN TALES investigated the narratives used by Global South countries in the advisory proceedings on climate change before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
This analysis revealed two dominant narration patterns: the first, adopted by relatively more developed nations, emphasized the need to balance environmental protection with economic development (i); and the second, advanced primarily by island and African nations, underscored the heightened vulnerabilities caused by the climate crisis (ii).
By shedding light on these narratives, LATIN TALES provides valuable insights into how legal discourse shapes international relations and influences global policymaking.
Mapping the participation of States before International Courts and Tribunals
Climate change has increasingly been understood as a ‘community interest’, reflecting a fundamental value that cannot be left to the free disposition of individual international actors. However, current international politics limit global achievements on climate change. In this context, international courts and tribunals (ICTs) have been provoked to fill in the gaps of climate inaction, notably via their advisory function. Multiple states participated during the proceedings of the advisory opinion on climate change issued by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), and Global South states were particularly engaged in these proceedings. Considering that states advance narratives before ICTs and that these stories may reflect their broader political strategies on global issues, the present research focuses on perceiving how Global South states’ narratives are articulated in the ITLOS advisory proceedings on climate change. This project examines whether states’ narratives at ICTs are articulated with a broader political context, reflecting their interests expressed in other international arenas. Specifically, it analyses if the Global South states’ narratives advanced during the ITLOS advisory proceedings on climate change echo a common history of colonialism, uneven development, and unequal impacts of climate change. The study was funded by the research funding agency of the state of Rio de Janeiro (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro -FAPERJ) and by the French Embassy in Brazil.
Main Products
Política jurídica externa: narrativas do Sul Global sobre mudanças climáticas no Tribunal do Mar
Global South Narratives in the ITLOS Advisory Proceedings on Climate Change to be presented at the conference “The Politics of International Dispute Settlement”
The Protection of Common Interests in International Law: A Study on the Role of Courts, Tribunals, and International Organizations
In international law, the concept of "common interests" recognizes fundamental values shared by the international community that transcend the individual interests of states. Regardless of the legal status of the concept, common interests can be reflected, for example, in the preservation of international peace and security, the protection of the environment and the common heritage of humanity, and the defense of human rights. In this context, the use of international institutions emerges as an imperative to protect and promote these shared interests. By establishing regulatory regimes, international organizations promote cooperation among States in addressing global challenges. Similarly, international courts and tribunals (ICTs), by settling disputes between states and issuing advisory opinions, also play a fundamental role in advancing common interests. States' conceptions of common interests significantly influence their positions in ICTs and in international organizations.
Therefore, it is necessary to investigate whether political objectives can be translated into legal strategies and influence the positioning of states, especially those of the Global South, in ICTs and in their interactions in international organizations. Thus, the research aims to answer the following question: how do the Global South States mobilize narratives and legal strategies on issues of common interest in inter-state courts and tribunals and in international organizations? Indeed, inter-state courts and tribunals, as well as international organizations, when addressing transnational challenges, reflect upon and weigh the arguments presented by states, potentially advancing the interests of the international community. The complexity of the project requires the use of methodological pluralism, including traditional doctrinal approaches, legal theory techniques, empirical methods from the social sciences, and textual analysis from the humanities, as well as the use of mixed methods, which combine quantitative and qualitative aspects.
This project is funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) and supports the mobility of researchers to four European partner institutions: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Sciences Po Paris Law School, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, and iCourts (University of Copenhagen).