Grotius Dialogue
Grotius Dialogue Book Talk: The ICJ and Multi-forum Litigation Strategy
- Date
- Tuesday 10 November 2026
- Time
- Address
- Wijnhaven Building Room 2.17, Turfmarkt 99, 2511DP The Hague
In a world where inter-State multi-forum litigation multiplies, so does the risk of courts becoming diplomatic platforms to air State grievances. Nowadays, the ICJ is called to confront this risk when dealing with the main political issues of the day. The book draws inferences from legal and political sciences to assess ICJ authority when crises make their way to it as part of a multi-forum litigation strategy. It identifies the essential characteristics of this strategy and delineates ICJ instrumentalization against this background. Three running examples expose the many roles implanted in the ICJ when it is so instrumentalized. And they determine the legal and policy ramifications ensuing from a State’s attempt to engage in such a judicial-'diplomatic' campaign.
Please join us for a discussion of the book that won the ESIL Monograph Prize 2026, The ICJ and Multi-forum Litigation Strategy!
Professor Nikolaos Voulgaris is a Fellow for the Centre for International Governance and Dispute Resolution (CIGAD) at The Dickson Poon School of Law.
Nikolaos Voulgaris is a professor of international law at the European Law & Governance School and an adjunct professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Specialised in general public international law, his interests include the law of international responsibility, the sources and subjects of international law and international dispute resolution. His latest research explores the limits of international courts as dispute resolution mechanisms.