ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the extent to which states have accepted two global courts’ claims to authority. It provides an analysis of the legitimation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body (AB), in the period 1996–2016. From meeting records in the years 1996–2016 a total of 2070 and 3410 individual paragraphs of 854 and 377 government statements on the AB and international court of justice respectively were manually extracted. While a number of UN and WTO members engage in debates, many do not formulate views on the courts. For the WTO AB the most pressing concern relates to the US’ dissatisfaction with the court and the country’s successful, unilateral dismemberment of the Appellate Body. The ICJ’s future does not seem as dire as that of the Appellate Body’s, but it too may encounter renewed challenges in the years ahead that may spill over to UN members’ usage of the Court.
