when a dispute arises. The functioning of the International Court must be regarded in this light. The practice of pacific settlement shows that there is not too great a distance between the standpoints of the Soviet countries, who emphasise direct negotiation as the starting point in settling disputes, and that of the Western countries, who lay particular stress on judicial settlement as such, because the Western countries usually make the application of arbitration and judicial settlement to a specific dispute dependent on the cooperation of all parties, in obtaining which negotiations are essential.