Originally from World Arbitration and Mediation Review

Since time immemorial arbitration has been used to process disputes between peoples in an amicable and fair manner.  Arbitration is an alternative to litigation—but more importantly —it is also an alternative to using violence, self-help, or operating under the notion that might is right.  Arbitrating for Peace sheds light on how international arbitration (an increasingly popular form of dispute resolution for commercial and investment-related matters) has a history and continued usefulness in maintaining peace between nation states.   While a book on such a topic could be considered dry, daunting and full of mundane details, this is not the case in Arbitrating for Peace.  The book involves readers with exciting narratives of espionage,  covert bombings,  insurgency,  and international disputes that are resolved by decisions that have shaped our current geopolitical landscape.  As these cases will show, international arbitrators can help maintain harmony and defuse conflict through thoughtful legal analysis and creativity.

The book is the result of a laudable collective effort led by Ulf Franke, former Secretary-General of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (“SCC”);  Annette Magnusson, the current Secretary-General of the Arbitration Institute of the SCC;  and Joel Dahlquist, a doctoral candidate and lecturer at Uppsala University.   The book is divided into fourteen chapters,  each penned by an author with vast experience and expertise in international arbitration (some even having firsthand knowledge of the cases they write about).   The common thread of the chapters is their coverage of specific instances or dimensions of international arbitration involving state-related disputes. Generally, the chapters are organized in chronological order of when the arbitration took place, which helps the reader trace the history and evolution of this important dispute resolution mechanism and put it in historical context.