India and international dispute settlement: some reflections on India's participation in international courts and tribunals

This chapter focuses on India’s participation at various international courts and tribunals. It reviews India’s practice and approach towards different international courts and tribunals, albeit briefly. The chapter also focuses on issues such as India’s preference for diplomatic negotiations over adjudication, compromise of sovereignty, invocation of the principle of exhaustion of local remedies, and the accommodation of non-state entities or individuals in International Dispute Settlement. The settlement of international disputes through peaceful means is the only way one can assure the ‘supremacy of law in the community of nations’. In terms of the factors that affect India’s decision to approach the International Court of Justice, ‘national interest’ can be said to take precedence. India has complied with all the decisions of the dispute settlement body, even when such compliance led India to make substantive changes to its domestic laws and policies.