``Disputology'' in the International Construction Industry

The trend in managing construction disputes is to design the most appropriate dispute resolution (DR) mechanism to be incorporated into the contract, thus avoiding disputes or quickly resolving them when they do arise. In addition to traditional arbitration, many new, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms have been developed. Most construction contracts have either one of the DR mechanisms, or a combination of them in the form of a multi-tiered DR mechanism, incorporated into their contracts, particularly for large international construction projects. Such development has been acknowledged as the "disputology" in all construction activities. For disputes in international construction projects, there are more than just rights and interests of the parties to be considered. It is proposed that previous studies on pattern of disputes relating to "interests-rights" could be extended to consider other factors including politics, law and cultural compatibility in international construction projects.