AbstractsEconomics

The medium-sized Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia use a different combination of international dispute settlement methods in their attempt to resolve maritime disputes in the South China Sea with the economically and militarily superior People's Republic of China. This thesis researches the relation between these methods and their relation with the PRC by looking at economic dependence, the occurrence of violence, and the history of their diplomatic relations. The absence of violence and a history of good diplomatic relations relates to states' reluctance to use international arbitration, while historically bad diplomatic relations and a higher amount of violence relates to the involvement of third parties as mediators and the use of international arbitration.