Zwischen Dogmatik und Rechtspolitik – Die Interpretationsentscheidung des Internationalen Gerichtshofs im Fall Temple of Preah Vihear

In its Judgment of 11 November 2013 in Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear, viewed together with the Decision on Provisional Measures of 18 July 2011, the International Court of Justice strikes a fine balance between doctrine and policy. The Judgment successfully avoided undermining the res judicata of the original judgment and focuse on the interpretation of what it had decided more than fifty years earlier, thereby resolving a dispute regarding territorial sovereignty over the area of the Temple of Preah Vihear between Cambodia and Thailand that had led to high political and military tension and had resulted into hostilities between the two countries as recently as April 2011. It takes account of the Court's role as an important guarantor of the peaceful settlement of international disputes, while at the same time tying such political function into a clear-cut doctrinal analysis. Thus, the judg- ment of 11 November identifies the Court as a political organ, which, however, fulfils its political role to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security by way of legal argumentation based on a jurisprudence constante.