UK is out of the International Court of Justice – and it's hard to not see Brexit at play
Ben Murphy, University of Liverpool The UN has used its first opportunity since the Brexit referendum to send a powerful message. In a significant diplomatic setback, UK judge Christopher Greenwood has lost the seat he has held on the International Court of Justice since 2008. This is the first time the UK has not been represented on the court since its inception in 1946. As the postmortem begins, there are undoubtedly a number of contributing factors in this decision. But the potential significance of Brexit should not be ignored. The principal judicial organ of the UN holds elections every three years, with five vacancies each time around. This year, judges from France, Somalia and Brazil were reelected without incident. If bookmakers were offering a market on the election, the odds on the two remaining seats being filled by Greenwood and Dalveer Bhandari from India (who were both seeking reelection) would have been very short indeed. Instead, Nawaf Salam, Lebanon’...