Can the European Court of Human Rights Prevent War? Interim Measures in Inter-State Cases

This article discusses a new notion of general interim measures in inter-state cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Such measures are not precise and do not give the Contracting Parties clear instructions of what should be done to comply with the Court’s order. It is argued here that such measures can undermine the legitimacy of the ECtHR because they do not possess those qualifications that made specific interim measures in individual cases so influential