Normative Dualism and Parallel Institution-Building: The Case of the International Commercial Dispute Prevention and Settlement Organization (ICDPASO)

Summary

This article examines China’s turn towards parallel institution-building in international commercial dispute resolution, taking the International Commercial Dispute Prevention and Settlement Organization (ICDPASO) as its principal case study. Drawing on interviews with arbitrators, users, officials and legal experts, the authors develop the concept of normative dualism to describe how China engages with established dispute resolution institutions while simultaneously building new structures alongside them. The article argues that ICDPASO is not merely a functional response to gaps in the existing architecture, but a vehicle through which China asserts normative leadership and counterbalances the perceived dominance of Western institutions. By connecting the domestic and international dimensions of Chinese legal practice, it situates ICDPASO within a wider pattern of institutional competition, and offers a framework for understanding how rising powers use parallel institutions to project normative influence in global economic governance.