This thesis seeks to investigate the lack of participation by African countries in the WTO Dispute Settlement System by first providing an overview of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) system and, secondly by explaining the reasons that forestall the participation of African countries.

This is an original non-experimental research conducted in four Geo-Political Zones in Nigeria (West Africa). It surveys opinions of victims of crime and conflicts, and criminal justice professionals with regard to exploring restorative justice as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Model in the country. The findings of this study are relatively in line with other cross-national research and evaluations of restorative justice, which consistently demonstrate that victims of crime are better off after participating in restorative justice programmes compared to the court proceedings (see Strang et al, 2006 for instance). The ‘Afrocentric’ viewpoints contained in the findings are imperative to international practitioners and scholars interested in Peace and Dispute Resolutions in Africa.

Using the findings of a five-year ethnographic study, this thesis examines the contractual relationships that prevail in low-technology moderately competitive industries characteristic of the contemporary Ukrainian economy. The research reports on how contracts are enforced and how the stability of business relationships is ensured in Ukraine. The established view of many scholars that business efficiency is held back in most post-Soviet economies by frequent contractual violations and dysfunctional courts is not entirely supported by the research underpinning this thesis: in Ukraine, contract enforcement is generally effective enough to allow stability in day-to-day transactions, and the commercial courts do provide adequate backing. Although the mechanisms used to enforce contracts in Ukraine are generally similar to those found in developed countries, there are distinctive features within the overall pattern. In particular, firms rely extensively on repeated interactions and self-enforcing devices while signing short-term formal contracts and avoiding interdependency between trading partners. They do not rely on their reputation or business association memberships and they make no use of private arbitration. Instead, a few legal institutions dating back to the Soviet period proved adaptable and viable in a market economy. When transactions involve either state-owned companies or the exercise of administrative resources, contract enforcement becomes problematic. Illegal kickbacks from suppliers and the coercive use of state machinery come into play, and asking a court to enforce a contract is more costly and less effective than in other cases. However, the author shows that in the typical everyday transactions of Ukrainian private firms, the state and its administrative resources are involved in the minority of cases, and that they do not undermine the dominant pattern of orderly contractual dealings. The thesis concludes that the contractual pattern prevalent in Ukraine effectively serves straightforward traditional buyer-seller transactions but it is ill-suited to meet the requirements of globalized trade, production diversification and technological progress. Adaptations of the existing system to meet these requirements are likely to depend upon changes in the wider business environment, namely upon institutions constraining the coercive power of the state.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Technology: Public Management (Peacebuilding), Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / One of the major issues following the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 was what to do with the huge number of people (around 100 000) accused of crimes during the genocide. Western legal approaches dealt with a handful of such cases at huge expense but the vast majority of the accused languished in prison. The government decided to employ a modified version of Gacaca - the traditional way of dealing with disputes and lower level crimes at community level. Using a qualitative research methodology and employing focus groups and individual interviews as data collection tools, this research investigate perceptions about the operation of Gacaca in three Rwandan communities, with particular reference to truth, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. The research suggests that in the three communities, Gacaca was seen as bringing the truth out into the open and to provide a measure of justice, although limitations were noted in both of these respects. Given the enormity of the genocide crimes, however, there seemed to be little progress in the areas of forgiveness and reconciliation. / M

RESUMÉ Title of the thesis: "Dispute resolution with an international element within the area of sports law". The aim of the thesis is to outline the systém of the dispute resolution reflecting sport specifics, especially the autonomy of sport bodies. The autonomy allows sport federations to establish decision-making bodies deciding upon the rights and duties of their members. In the first chapter of the thesis I discuss the proceedings before the decision-making bodies of the international sport federations. These bodies decide especially on disciplinary matters. As appeal bodies they deal with challenged decisions of the lower organizational level authorities. They also exercise jurisdiction in all matters entrusted according to the statute or other regulations while applying especially regulations of the relevant sport federation. I discuss the compliance of the principle of the fair proceedings and the issue of the binding force of a decision. The decision of sport bodies can be challenged only after the exhaustion of the remedies within the relevant sport federation in the proceedings before an ordinary court or arbitral tribunal if an arbitral agreement have been concluded. The judicial review is examined in the second chapter of my thesis. I deal with the admissibility of the judicial review of the...

International dispute resolution in sports Key words: international sports law, dispute resolution, CAS Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the mechanisms of dispute resolution in sports. After the introductory first chapter which deals with definitions of basic concepts such as sport in general or sports law, the thesis focuses on international aspects of sports law. The second chapter is concerned with essential issues of international sports law, particularly with the legitimacy of nongovernmental sports federations in the realm of the international legal order, nature of sports regulations, subjects of international sports law and the most important international legal documents. The third chapter describes the structure of international sports federations on the example of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Special attention is dedicated to the discussion of international legal personality of the IOC and also to the character of the Olympic Charter, which is a crucial international document in the area of sports. The next three chapters examine one of the most important segments of international sports law - dispute resolution. Firstly, a domestic level of dispute resolution is addressed. This passage also contains the analysis of state courts' interventions into the practice and...

81 Alternative dispute resolution in international sport with the emphasis on the Court of Arbitration for Sport Key words: alternative dispute resolution, Court of Arbitration for Sport, UNCITRAL Abstract The goal of this thesis is to introduce basic methods for alternative dispute resolution currently available in the area of sport on the international level. First chapter deals generally about the term of alternative dispute resolution, reasons of its growing popularity particularly in the sporting sphere, its advantages and the perception of its use worldwide. The second chapter comprises a detailed analysis of now probably the most important institution in the field of alternative dispute resolution in sport, which is the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) with its seat in Lausanne, Switzerland. After more than 30 years of its existence, this institution is already an established brand that offers solutions to disputes within sport, primarily through arbitration. This takes place either within the Ordinary Division or the Appeals Division of the Court. Detailed description of the proceedings in disputes of this kind is the main part of this chapter, supplemented with practical findings. Special branch of arbitration offered by CAS is the resolution of disputes on major sporting events such as the...

DIPLOMA THESIS Denisa Budilová : Institutional framework of alternative dispute resolution in sport ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is description and analysis of institutional framework, through which sport disputes are solved outside the State courts' jurisdiction. The thesis also delimits mutual relation between jurisdiction of sport organisations' bodies on one hand and State courts' jurisdiction on the other hand. The text is divided into seven chapters. A brief introduction is followed by second chapter, in which I focus on sport in general, its relations to law, I am exploring relations that may arise within the sport, and outlining on several examples what disputes may arise from those relations. Separate subsections are devoted to normative regulation of sport's relations and question of sports law. Third chapter is focused on Czech legislation on alternative dispute resolution in sport. I particularly deal with possibilities of alternative dispute resolution according to the Czech Arbitration Act (1994). The following section deals with dispute resolution based on sport associations' autonomy; I focus on current legislation and related case-law, as well as on proposed legislation to be enacted with respect to ongoing recodification of Czech private law. Fourth chapter provides an analysis of...

1 Resolving investment disputes from the perspective of case- law of international arbitration courts The purpose of my thesis is to analyse actual questions of international investment dispute resolution. In this research I would like to stress the differences between the institutional investment arbitration and the ad hoc investment arbitration while focusing on the ICSID Arbitration according to The Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States followed by the Rules of Procedure for Arbitration proceedings and on the ad hoc arbitration according to the 1976 - UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, as these two proceedings represent the most common modes of international investment dispute resolution. All my findings are going to be supported by relevant case-law of individual arbitration courts or by specialized publications. The thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One is introductory. It contains a simple analysis of what an international investment dispute means. This introduction is followed by a brief description of the history of international investment dispute resolution and of the modes of an international investment dispute resolution. The findings of this chapter are based on the comparison of provisions of the bilateral investment treaties...

This diploma thesis deals with mediation as an instrument for ethnic conflict resolution in Africa. The author determined the feasibility and effectiveness of mediation as a tool for solving the ethnic conflict in Africa as the research topic of this thesis. The aim of the diploma thesis is to provide an evaluation of the current international legal regulation of mediation, of its sufficiency and integrity. Furthermore, the author aims to provide a comprehensive and complex view of the use of mediation in ethnic conflict resolution in Africa through an interdisciplinary analysis of the academic literature, both from Czech and foreign sources. The author sees her personal contribution by writing this thesis in the fact that in the Czech Republic the issue of mediation as a tool for ethnic conflict resolution has not been systematically researched yet. This diploma thesis is divided into four chapters, which are further subdivided into subchapters. The introductory chapter of this thesis describes a theoretical introduction to the issue of ethnicity and its legal regulation. Furthermore, the author deals with the origins of ethnic conflicts. The second chapter deals with the legal framework for international settlement of conflicts. This chapter also discusses in detail the various possible ways of...