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4 Ibid.

5 Ibid., at 9.

6 The case on point is the advisory opinion on Western Sahara. Examined in detail in K. Knop, Diversity and Self-Determination in International Law (2002), 117; McWhinney, E., ‘Western and Non-Western Legal Cultures and the International Court of Justice’, (1987), 65 Wash. U. L. Q. 873Google Scholar, at 874.

7 It is a popular exercise in the domestic context as well. Ostberg, C. and Wetstein, M., Attitudinal Decision Making in the Supreme Court of Canada (2011)Google Scholar; Sunstein, C. and Schkade, D., Are Judges Political: An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary (2007)Google Scholar; Macfarlane, E., Governing from the Bench: The Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Role (2013)Google Scholar; Bobek, M., Selecting Europe’s Judges: A Critical Review of the Appointment Procedures to the European Courts (2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Goldman, S., Picking Federal Judges: Lower Court Selection from Roosevelt Through Reagan (1999)Google Scholar.

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16 Ibid.

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19 South West Africa Cases (Ethiopia v. South Africa; Liberia v. South Africa), Preliminary Objections, [1962] ICJ Rep. 319; South West Africa Cases (Ethiopia v. South Africa; Liberia v. South Africa), Second Phase, Judgment of 18 July 1966, [1966] ICJ Rep. 6.

20 South West Africa Cases (Ethiopia v. South Africa; Liberia v. South Africa), Second Phase, Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents (1966), at 8.

21 Ibid., at 11.

22 South West Africa, Second Phase, para. 99; Declaration of President Sir Percy Spender for South West Africa Cases (Ethiopia v. South Africa; Liberia v. South Africa), Second Phase, Judgment of 18 July 1966, [1966] ICJ Rep. 1966.

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24 Higgins, R., ‘Policy Considerations and the International Judicial Process’, (1968) 17 International & Comparative Law Quarterly 64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weston, R. M., ‘Political Questions’, (1925) 38 Harvard Law Review 299CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

25 Ibid. Similar logic in the context of international law can be seen in Lauterpacht’s differentiation between political and legal disputes. A division between political and legal disputes is artificial because ‘it is not the nature of an individual dispute which makes it unfit for judicial settlement, but the unwillingness of a state to have it settled by the application of law’, in Lauterpacht, H., The Function of Law in the International Community (2011), 369Google Scholar.

26 On the detailed account of the masterful use of the election procedure to secure seats, see Rosenne, S., Documents on the International Court of Justice (1974), 437–8Google Scholar; McWhinney, E., ‘Law, Politics and Regionalism in the Nomination and Election of World Court Judges’, (1986) 13 Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce 14Google Scholar.

27 Statute of the International Court of Justice, Art. 2 [ICJ Statute]; Mackenzie, R. and Sands, P., ‘Judicial Selection for International Courts: Towards Common Principles and Practices’, in Russell, P. and Malleson, K. (eds.), Appointing Judges in an Age of Judicial Power: Critical Perspectives from Around the World (2006), 213CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 217.

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31 League of Nations, Procès-Verbaux of the proceedings of the Committee, 16–24 June 1920, with Annexes (The Hague: Van Landenhuysen, 1920), 465–6 [Procès-Verbaux].

32 Procès-Verbaux, 466; Hill, N., ‘National Judges in the Permanent Court of International Justice’, (1931) 25 AJIL 670CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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34 Ibid.

35 R. Mackenzie and P. Sands, supra note 27, at 225.

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37 For a more detailed account see Creamer, C. and Godzimirska, Z., ‘The Job Market for Justice: Screening and Selecting Candidates for the International Court of Justice’, (2017) 30 LJIL 947CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 950.

38 Sameh, M. and Amr, M., The Role of the International Court of Justice as the Principal Judicial Organ of the United Nations (2003), 33Google Scholar.

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40 Ibid.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid.

43 Jarpa, J., ‘Valuing Diversity in All Forms in International Courts’, (2017) 111 Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting 296Google Scholar.

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45 ICJ Statute, Art. 9.

46 Procès-Verbaux, at 151; Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, A., ‘Nordic Judges of the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice’, in Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, A. (ed.), Nordic Approaches to International Law (2017), 49Google Scholar, at 51–2.

47 Anand, R. P., ‘Attitude of the New Asian-African Countries Toward the International Court of Justice’, in Snyder, F. and Sathirathai, S. (eds.), Third World Attitudes Toward International Law: An Introduction (1987), 163Google Scholar, at 170.

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49 Mackenzie, supra note 10, at 101.

50 UNGA, Election of Five Members of the International Court of Justice (1975) 2408th Plenary meeting thirties session (UN Doc. A/PV/2408)

51 They are: Manfred Lachs (Poland), Sbigeru Oda (Japan), Salab El Dine Tarazi (Syria), Taslim Olawale Elias (Nigeria), Abdul Hakim Tabibi (Afghanistan), Hermann Mosler (FRG), Edvard Hambro (Norway), Thusew Samuel Fernando (Sri Lanka), Rocheforte Weeks (Liberia), Eero Manner (Finland), Sture Petren (Sweden), Mugo Waiyaki (Kenya), Rudolf Bindschedler (Switzerland), Ambrosio Aybar (Dominican Republic), Charles Onyeama (Nigeria), Patrick Dankwa Anim (Ghana), and Ramon Ruiz Tejada (Dominican Republic). Ibid., para. 11.

52 Ibid., para. 12.

53 Ibid., paras. 24–5.

54 Ibid., at 904.

55 Ibid., paras. 27–8, 30, 34.

56 They are: Jose Sette Camara (Brazil), Richard Baxter (United States of America), Platon Morozov (USSR), Abdullah Ali El-Erian (Egypt), Roberto Ago (Italy), Edilbert Razafmdralambo (Madagascar), H.W.Jayewardene (Sri Lanka), Eero Manner (Finland), Leon Boissier Palun (Benin), and Myres McDougal (United States of America). UNGA, Election of Five Members of the International Court of Justice 40th Plenary Meeting, (31 October 1978) 33 Sess., New York, para. 9.

57 Ibid., para. 10.

58 Ibid., para. 32.

59 Ibid., para. 25.

60 Ibid., para. 22.

61 Ibid., para. 26.

62 Ibid., para. 30.

63 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978USUNN02852_d.html.

64 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN06010_b.html.

65 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978MEXICO11343_d.html.

66 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN05757_b.html.

67 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN05973_b.html; wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN04177_b.html; wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975STATE259751_b.html.

68 Supra note 63.

69 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978GENEVA10704_d.html.

70 Swartz, D., Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu (2012), 190–1Google Scholar.

71 d’Aspremont, J., ‘The Professionalisation of International Law’, in d’Aspremont, J. (ed.), International Law as a Profession (2017), 19CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 28 (reminding us that socialization occurs through different paths, including but not limited to education).

72 McWhinney, supra note 6, at 888.

73 Ibid.

74 Roberts, supra note 2, at 40.

75 Ibid.

76 I am grateful to one of the peer-reviewers for pointing this out.

77 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978GENEVA10132_d.html [emphasis added].

78 Ibid.

79 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978STATE204893_d.html.

80 Ibid.

81 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978LONDON15579_d.html; wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN04937_b.html; wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN05432_b.html.

82 Ibid., ID 1975USUNN04937_b.

83 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978COPENH05333_d.html.

84 Ibid.

85 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1977STATE278721_c.html.

86 Hernandez, G., The International Court of Justice and the Judicial Function (2014), 138CrossRefGoogle Scholar (confirms that ‘in fact many nominated candidates spend extended periods serving in or close to their foreign ministries or, in the case of academics, have often spent long periods being of counsel to governments on questions of international law’).

87 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975LAGOS08428_b.html.

88 Supra note 63.

89 Ibid.

90 L. Dingle, interview with E. Lauterpacht, 2 April 2008, available at www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/197071/Eli%20Lauterpacht%20Interview%206%20transcript%20-%202%20April%202008.pdf;jsessionid=A062D499A329521C98CC6BAABB4556CD?sequence=4, at 13.

91 Ibid.

92 Supra note 69.

93 Judge Platon Morozov (USSR Judge to ICJ 1970–1985).

94 Supra note 69.

95 Higgins, R., ‘Remarks: Harmony and Dissonance in International Law’, (2011) 105 American Society of International Law Proceedings of the Annual Meeting 216Google Scholar, at 218.

96 Dingle, L., ‘A Legal Journey Through the UN, Academia, and the ICJ: Conversations with Dame Rosalyn Higgins DBE, JSD, FBA, QC’, (2015) 15 Legal Information Management 86CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 92.

97 Supra note 65.

98 UNGA, Agenda Item 17, Election of Five Members of the International Court of Justice (1975), 30th Sess, 2408th Plenary Meeting, available at digitallibrary.un.org/record/745297, at 904, para. 12.

99 UN, Yearbook of the International Law Commission (2008), 20.

100 Supra note 64.

101 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN06029_b.html.

102 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN05929_b.html; wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1978STATE249842_d.html.

103 wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975USUNN05898_b.html.

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105 In the domestic settings, judges are often elected/appointed through similar political processes.

106 Procès-verbaux mention it as ‘sociological reality’ (see comments by Adatchi and Phillimore), i.e., the division of states upon great and small powers; and unwillingness of some states (like the UK) to subject itself to the court unless it has a judge at that court. Procès-Verbaux, 105. It is worth noting that Phillimore explicitly acknowledged that the notion of Great Power is context specific and can change over time; Cai, C., ‘New Great Powers and International Law in the 21st Century’, (2013) 24 EJIL 755CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 763–5.

107 Eldar, O., ‘Vote-trading in International Institutions’, (2008) 19 EJIL 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 23–5.

108 Schermers, H. and Blokker, N.International Institutional Law: Unity within Diversity (2011), 528Google Scholar.

109 Ibid.

110 Gross, L., The Future of the International Court of Justice (1976), 744Google Scholar.

111 Jarpa Dawuni, J. and Kuenyehia, A. (eds.), International Courts and the African Woman Judge: Unveiled Narratives (2017)Google Scholar.

112 McWhinney supra note 6, at 888; Creamer and Godzimirska, supra note 37, at 956.

113 Ibid.

114 Obregon, L., ‘The Third World Judges: Neutrality, Bias or Activism at the Permanent Court of International Justice and International Court of Justice’, in Schabas, W. A. and Murphy, S. (eds.), Research Handbook on International Courts and Tribunals (2017)Google Scholar, at 193.

115 Ibid., 181, at 194; Obregon, L., ‘Noted for Dissent: The International Life of Alejandro Alvarez’, (2006) 19 LJIL 983CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

116 As cited in Gross supra note 48.

117 Even most recently in the context of the 2017 elections, as discussed in Section 5.

118 Bogdandy, A. and Venzke, I., In Whose Name?: A Public Law Theory of International Adjudication (2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar (arguing that the Court employs a ‘cautious’ state-oriented approach in the interpretation of international law).

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120 Ibid.

121 N. Krisch, ‘Capitulation in the Hague: The Marshall Islands Cases’, EJIL Talk!, 10 October 2016, available at www.ejiltalk.org/capitulation-in-the-hague-the-marshall-islands-cases/.

122 Voeten, E., ‘Outside Options and the Logic of Security Council Action’, (2001) 95 American Political Science Review 845CrossRefGoogle Scholar (discussing power asymmetries for the purpose of vote trading in UN SC context). It also explains the dominance of the P5 in the UN Under-Secretary General positions. House of Commons, Foreign Affairs Committee, ‘The UK’s Influence in the UN, HC 675’, 7 February 2018, questions 49–123, available at data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/foreign-affairs-committee/the-uks-influence-in-the-un/oral/78148.html, at Q113.

123 R. Bernstein, ‘The U.N. versus the U.S.’, New York Times Magazine, 22 January 1984, available at www.nytimes.com/1984/01/22/magazine/the-un-versus-the-us.html.

124 They can also display a rent-seeking behaviour. Kuziemko, I. and Werker, E., ‘How Much is a Seat on the Security Council Worth? Foreign Aid and Bribery at the United Nations’, (2006) 114 Journal of Political Economy 905CrossRefGoogle Scholar (‘Using country-level panel data, we find a large positive effect of Security Council membership on foreign aid receipts. On average, a non-permanent member of the council enjoys a 59 percent increase in total aid from the United States and an 8 percent increase in total development aid from the United Nations … aid payments sharply increase in the year that a country is elected to the Security Council, remain high throughout the two-year term, and return to their earlier level almost immediately upon completion of the term … On average, the typical developing country serving on the council can anticipate an additional $16 million from the United States and $1 million from the United Nations During important years, these numbers rise to $45 million from the United States and $8 million from the United Nations’); Malone, D., ‘Eyes on the Prize: The Quest for Nonpermanent Seats on the U.N. Security Council’, (2000) 6 Global Governance 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

125 H. Clinton, Hard Choices: A Memoir (2014).

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127 Eldar, supra note 107. For further reading on the relationship between the UNSC members and IMF loans see Dreher, A., Sturm, J. E. and Vreeland, J. R., ‘Global Horse Trading: IMF Loans for Votes in the United Nations Security Council’, (2009) 53 European Economic Review 742CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

128 Ibid.

129 Rosenne, S., The World Court: What It Is and How It Works (1995), 67Google Scholar.

130 I use the term ‘power’ here as in ‘the power (in Dahl’s sense) of the individual over the voting body, the likelihood that the body would respond to a change of preference by the individual, based on certain assumptions of the kind of issues that arise and how the members vote …’; O’Neill, B., ‘Power and Satisfaction in the United Nations Security Council’, (1996) 40 The Journal of Conflict Resolution 219CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 220.

131 Kirkpatrick, J. J., ‘The United Nations as a Political System: A Practicing Political Scientist’s Insights into U.N. Politics’, (2007) 170 World Affairs 97CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 100.

132 Ibid.

133 Ibid.

134 Ibid.

135 For an overview of the UNSC context on procedural manipulations see Krasno, J., ‘The UN Landscape: An Overview’, in Krasno, J. and Rienner, L. (eds.), The United Nations: Confronting the Challenges of a Global Society (2004), 12Google Scholar.

136 McWhinney, supra note 26, at 14.

137 Ibid.

138 Ibid

139 Ibid.

140 Rosenne, S. and Ronen, Y., The Law and Practice of The International Court, 1920–2005 (2006), 378Google Scholar.

141 Ibid.

142 Ibid.

143 The Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Letter to the President of the General Assembly, 20 November 2017, available at www.un.org/pga/72/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2017/11/lection-of-members-of-the-International-Court-of-Justice.pdf.

144 Fassbender, B., ‘Article 12’, in Zimmermann, A.et al. (eds.), The Statute of the International Court of Justice: A Commentary (2019)Google Scholar.

145 House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, 2017 Elections to the International Court of Justice, 4th Report, Session 2017-19 at 11 [House of Commons, Reports].

146 Ibid.

147 Ibid., para. 8.

148 ‘The UK’s Influence in the UN, HC 675’, supra note 122.

149 House of Commons, Reports, supra note 145, paras. 14, 15.

150 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, ‘Memorandum - Elections to the International Court of Justice’, 27 November 2017, available at www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/foreign-affairs/Correspondence/2017-19/Correspondence-from-the-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-International-Court-of-Justice-elections-28-November-2017.pdf, para. 3.

151 UK’s Influence in the UN, supra note 148, at Q64.

152 House of Commons, Reports, supra note 145, para. 12 [emphasis added].

153 UK’s Influence in the UN, supra note 148, at Q56 (Lord Ahmad: ‘If you look at the results and the different rounds of voting, our pledges were 20 shy of the total membership of the UN General Assembly. In the first round of voting, we received 147 votes. Under normal circumstances, that and the vote that we secured in the Security Council would have meant that he would have been re-elected. The dynamic of the election changed just before we went into the formal process, as you will be aware, because the Indian candidate, who was eventually elected, declared very late. Until that point, the slate was a clear slate; it then became a contested election’).

154 Ibid., at Q86.

155 Ibid., at Q76, 81. As anecdotal evidence, in his testimony, Lord Ahmad references the fact that the Indian Prime-Minister personally lobbied for the Indian candidate. He also indicated that the US delegation pledged support and expressed it strongly in the UNSC.

156 Keith, K., ‘Challenges to the Independence of the International Judiciary: Reflections on the International Court of Justice’, (2017) 30 LJIL 137CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 146.

157 Ibid.