To What Extent Did the Concept of State Responsibility Assume Significance in the Resolution of Environmental Disputes?

Abstract

This paper adopts a practical approach to invoking state responsibility. The choice is warranted on the ground that no matter how carefully international rules are, theoretically, set out, states’ actual use of them greatly varies. Indeed, settlement of claims by diplomatic means is often the preferred option. Such an approach dangerously rests on a flimsy socio-economic balance, made at the compromise of environmental protection.After giving an account of state responsibility’s role in international law, the essay proceeds by examining its shortcomings and further elaborates them in a hypothetical case study. The alternatives to state responsibility and the necessity for reform are subsequently discussed.