In The New Terrain of International Law I explain the proliferation of new-style international courts, that is international courts with compulsory jurisdiction and access for non-state actors to initiate litigation, reflects the global diffusion of European legal models.  The diffused European legal model asks international courts to serve as a supranational legal check on international institutions and national governments.  Diffusion occurs, yet local actors (wisely) adjust the European model to fit their needs.

Articles investigating the global diffusion of European legal models

The Global Spread of European Style International Courts, West European Politics, 35 (1): 135-154, 2012.  Here I examine the push and pull factors for diffusion, arguing that emulation is the primary force for diffusing international legal models.

The New Terrain of International Law, Princeton University Press, The New International Courts documents how the proliferation of international courts represents the copying of specific (mostly European) legal models.  (Chapter is available here).

The Evolution of International Law and Courts In The Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism,  Oxford University Press: 590-610 (Orfeo Fioretos, Tulia G. Falletti and Adam Scheingate eds., 2016) Reprinted in International Politics and Institutions in Time, Oxford University Press, 251-274 (Orfeo Fioretos ed., 2017).  This chapter charts the diffusion of the European human rights model, explaining adjustments that are made during the transplantation process in terms of learning both the good and the bad of the European model.

The Multiple Roles of International Courts and Tribunals: Enforcement, Dispute Settlement, Constitutional and Administrative Review
In International Law and International Relations: Synthesizing Insights from Interdisciplinary Scholarship, Cambridge University Press, 345-370 (Jeffrey L. Dunoff and Mark A. Pollack, eds., 2012). This book chapter (available here and on SSRN) develops a functional argument about the design of international courts, and it puts side-by-side the delegation of specific roles to 24 international courts.

Deep Dives

In co-authored work with Laurence Helfer I have investigated the operation of European legal transplants in Latin America and Africa. See especially:

Transplanting the European Court of Justice: Findings from the Experience of the Andean Tribunal of Justice, American Journal of Comparative Law, 60 (6): 709-744, 2012 (with Laurence R.Helfer and Osvaldo Saldias)

A New International Human Rights Court for West Africa: The Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States, American Journal of International Law, 107 (4): 737-779, 2013 (with Laurence R. Helfer and Jacqueline McAllister) (Opinio Juris-AJIL Symposium, 2014)

The Andean Tribunal of Justice and its Interlocutors: Understanding the Preliminary Ruling Reference Patterns in the Andean Community, Journal of International Law and Politics, 41 (4): 871-929, 2009 (with Laurence R. Helfer)

Transplanting International Courts: The Law and Poltiics of the Andean Tribunal of Justice
(with Laurence R. Helfer) Oxford University Press (Hardback: 2017; Paperback: 2019, in Spanish 2022)