International courts and tribunals (ICs) have become central to global governance. Yet, the performance of ICs varies a great deal. This variation drives several questions: Why do some courts perform better than others? What factors contributes to the performance of ICs? How can their performance be improved? The performance of international courts merits study for several reasons, especially because it has implications for their legitimacy, popular support, as well as for policy. In this paper, we propose a framework for studying IC performance which considers IC performance in terms of process and outcomes. Performance of process is conceived as the degree to which ICs procedures in practice measure up to intended or aspired procedural goals, while performance of outcomes is the degree to which ICs in practice attain either intended or aspired substantive goals. In addition, this paper identifies a set of explanatory factors that might account for IC performance.
