Abstract
Through the process of globalization international law has evolved into a law of
global governance. At the same time, horizontal interaction between the states still constitutes a
major part of international law. The “governance,” and the “traditional” understanding of
international law fail to capture the real picture of the law beyond the state. This paper is an
attempt to bring these two approaches together under the rubric of “horizontal governance.” Both a
product and a promoter of horizontal governance are so called “peer reviews.” In international law,
peer review is a monitoring of a country’s practices in a particular field by a team composed of
staff from foreign agencies, and organized under the auspices of an international organization.
International peer review operates as a dispute prevention mechanism substituting more classical
compliance monitoring systems, and leading to the horizontal accountability of the involved
actors. The major reason for the proliferation of the peer review mechanism is its potential to
achieve state compliance in a collegial, and sovereignty-respecting way: it substitutes command
with acceptability, sanctions with peer pressure, and enforcement with learning.
global governance. At the same time, horizontal interaction between the states still constitutes a
major part of international law. The “governance,” and the “traditional” understanding of
international law fail to capture the real picture of the law beyond the state. This paper is an
attempt to bring these two approaches together under the rubric of “horizontal governance.” Both a
product and a promoter of horizontal governance are so called “peer reviews.” In international law,
peer review is a monitoring of a country’s practices in a particular field by a team composed of
staff from foreign agencies, and organized under the auspices of an international organization.
International peer review operates as a dispute prevention mechanism substituting more classical
compliance monitoring systems, and leading to the horizontal accountability of the involved
actors. The major reason for the proliferation of the peer review mechanism is its potential to
achieve state compliance in a collegial, and sovereignty-respecting way: it substitutes command
with acceptability, sanctions with peer pressure, and enforcement with learning.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Loy. LA Int'l & Comp. L. Rev |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |