Judicial Review, Foreign Relations and Global Administrative Law: The Administrative Function of Courts in Foreign Relations

The chapter investigates the role of domestic courts in the management of foreign relations (FRs). Combining insights from ongoing trends towards the ‘administrativisation’ of the jurisdictional function and the theoretical approach of Global Administrative Law (GAL), it explores whether and to what extent domestic judicial bodies “administer” FRs, establish coordination relationships and potentially develop a ‘common language’. The GAL approach brings out the role of global regulators of courts in a domain where their influence is often underestimated. With a varying degree of awareness, courts contribute to determine States’ FRs, and this role in contemporary constitutional systems has become structural. However, a survey on the judicial practice in this field suggests that the intervention of judicial bodies may lead to greater disorder, conflict and de-stabilization, thus – and paradoxically – frustrating the purposes of ordering the structures of global governance underlying the GAL project.