Amazon.com description: Product Description: International dispute settlement plays a fundamental role in maintaining the fabric of the international legal order, reflecting the desire of States - and increasingly, non-State actors - to resolve their differences through international dispute procedures and other legal mechanisms. This edited collection - now available in paperback - focuses upon the growth and complexity of such legal methods, which includes judicial settlement (courts and tribunals), arbitration, and other legal - or what might be termed 'extra-legal' - means (international organizations, committees, inspection panels, and ombudsmen). Such mechanisms are compared and evaluated side-by-side to provide a detailed and analytical account of the current framework. Ranging from key conceptual issues of proliferation of legal mechanisms and the associated risks of fragmentation through to innovations in dispute settlement mechanisms in many topical areas of international law - including international trade law, collective security law, and regional law - this collection provides a major study in the ongoing trends and emerging problems in this crucial area of international law. The publication marks the retirement of Professor John Merrills - Emeritus Professor of International Law at the University of Sheffield - who has written widely on international law and human rights law, but is probably best known for his work on the settlement of international disputes, evidenced by the enduring appeal of his leading text International Dispute Settlement, now in its fourth edition. (Series: Studies in International Law - No. 28)