The Dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Badinter Arbitration Commission: A Contextual Study of Peace-Making Efforts in the Post-Cold War World

The largely positive appraisal of international law's response to the Iraq-Kuwait conflict has not been mirrored in relation to Yugoslavia. This work evaluates the peace-making efforts of the major institutional actors, focusing specifically on the Badinter Arbitration Commission - an ad hoc EC-created organ required to provide legal advice on the isues surrounding Yugoslavia's dissolution. Initially composed of constitutional lawyers, aiming to redraft Yugoslavia's constitution, the Commission soo faced problems of public intenrational law. Its jurisprudence challenges international lawyers to reassess state-centric conceptions of international law in a world where most conflicts, war crimes and human rights abuses exist within rathern than between states.