In the period from the 1950s up to today, an accelerated development has taken place in favour of legal remedies by means of proceedings for individuals against the State. That development has had a positive influence on legal remedies in immigration proceedings. Certainly since the 1980s, however, an opposite current can also be noticed. While the legal remedies by means of proceedings for individuals against the administration have in general become stronger, an increasing tendency is appearing to make exceptions to this prejudicial to immigration proceedings. In the decade 1985–1995, the national immigration legislation in many West European states has been drastically altered. For the Union Member States to the south of France, this development only began after 1990, for a number of Member States to the North, it was already in progress. The conditions for admission and residence were tightened, and the possibilities for removal from the territory were expanded. For applicants for asylum this applied to an even greater extent.

For the first time in more than thirty years, no doubt due to a fresh wave of genocidal warfare in Europe, the likelihood of the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court has re-emerged. One of the crimes with which the proposed jurisdiction of the Court is to be conferred is the international crime of aggression.

Federalism is a form of governmental organisation whose origins may be traced to antiquity. However, the establishment of the United States as a federation during the late 18th century led to renewed interest in federal government, which has continued undiminished to the present day. As a measure of the significance of federalism, in 1987 it was estimated that some 40 per cent of the world's population lived in States that are formally federal, and that another one-third lived in polities that apply federal arrangements in some way. Amongst these States are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, India,Mexico, the Russian Federation, Switzerland and the United States of America.