The International Criminal Court and the politics of prosecutions

Tiemessen, Alana

doi:10.1080/13642987.2014.901310

Cited by 40 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…It also means taking into account selection effects-that is, the actors' knowledge that justice mechanisms are unlikely to work well in adverse settings, leading them to choose more appropriately tailored policies (Snyder & Vinjamuri 2003). Research shows, for example, that the politics that shapes impact often takes place in the pretrial phase, determining which cases come to trial, which do not, and when (Tiemessen 2014).…”

Section: Conclusion: Assessing the Impact Of Transitional Justicementioning

confidence: 97%

“…In fact, ICC justice has been heavily critiqued for its selectivity and also for its proximity to the interests of powerful states (Bosco 2014, Tiemessen 2014). In the DRC and Uganda, researchers have argued that then Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo solicited referrals and that his success was secured by an implicit agreement that government crimes would not be investigated (Clark 2010b).…”

Section: Implementing Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

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Law and Politics in Transitional Justice

Vinjamuri

Snyder

2015

Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci.

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The tension between law and politics places transitional justice under crosspressures. The impetus to hold perpetrators legally accountable for atrocities and major rights violations has emerged in part from the expectation that subjecting political behavior to the apolitical judgment of law will exert a civilizing effect. As demands for accountability have risen, politics has played a central role at every step. The past decade has seen a flourishing of research in empirical political science on the relationship between law and politics in postconflict and postauthoritarian justice. This research has tried to explain the turn to individual legal accountability and the development of norms and institutions for accountability. Research has stressed the role of politics in shaping the implementation of trials and other modes of accountability. It has also examined the consequences of these modes of accountability. We address research on each of these topics. 303 Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2015.18:303-327. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Access provided by WIB6013 -Freie Universitaet Berlin -FU Berlin on 05/15/15. For personal use only.

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Section: Conclusion: Assessing the Impact Of Transitional Justicementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Implementing Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Law and Politics in Transitional Justice

Vinjamuri

Snyder

2015

Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci.

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“…138 Likewise, although the ICC was initially heralded as helping to end impunity and ensure the more effective protection of global human rights, the institutional design and functioning of the Court in practice increasingly raises concerns over its politicisation and apparent Western bias. 139 In light of such concerns, it is hardly surprising that the new millennium brought with it an increasing academic focus on the question of the legitimacy of international institutions; 140 policy initiatives aimed at addressing questions of accountability and institutional responsibility; 141 as well as the emergence of new movements self-defined in terms of 'global constitutionalism' 142 and 'global administrative law', 143 the ethos of which is essentially to address the kind of rule of law concerns that arise from the apparent overreach of 'global governance' institutions. 144 Certainly, much of the concern surrounding the normative impact of such institutions and regimes stems from a perceived weakening of rule of law protections at the domestic level, as much as the international.…”

Section: The Rule Of Law As Institutional Ideal: the Emergence Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

Two idea(l)s of the international rule of law

Collins

2019

Glob. Con.

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Abstract:The international rule of law is a somewhat ubiquitous concept yet, as idea, it is marred by ambiguity and disagreement and, as ideal, constantly frustrated by the institutional conditions of the decentralised international legal order. Rather than necessarily undermining the concept, however, I argue that these structural conditions cause a kind of conceptual rupture, resulting in seemingly opposed or contradictory idealisations. On the one hand, the international rule of law can be understood as what Terry Nardin has called the ‘basis of association’ in international relations. This understanding places importance on the legal form as an end in itself, whereby the structural or institutional autonomy of international law is critical to the peaceable conduct of international relations. On the other hand, however, the rule of law exists as an unfulfilled promise of an order to come: it is distinctly anti-formalist in nature, stressing the functional capacity of international law to actually constrain political actors (primarily states) and thus seeking to develop more effective international institutional mechanisms. Although these competing idealisations give rise to a certain contradiction and inherent tension, their conceptual opposition is, I believe, critical to an understanding of authority and accountability dynamics in an era of ‘global governance’.

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“…In the remainder of this section, I will probe three potential arguments for why the adoption of the noble lie is such a vital strategy: legitimacy, deterrence, and what I shall call "perverse incentive." The problem of legitimacy is one of the standard explanations for why the ICC must (allegedly) stay the hands of politics (Danner 2003;Fichtelberg 2006;Murphy 2009;Takemura 2012;Tiemessen 2014). As I have pointed out above, legitimacy is of crucial importance for the ICC: the Court depends on the cooperation and support of states (financially, enforcement of arrest warrants, etc.)…”

Section: The Disavowal Of Politics As a Noble Liementioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of these weaknesses is that these scholars often present a rather limited view of "politics" or "the political." What they routinely refer to is that the ICC is a "politicized Court" that cannot elude the political influence of internal or external actors (Köchler 2003;Roach 2006;Ainley 2011;Dana 2014;Tiemessen 2014Tiemessen , 2016. This, to be sure, is a vital aspect of the Court's political nature; but there is another dimension of "politics" at play here, one that is even more controversial and less frequently discussed than "politicization": this is the notion of the ICC as a "political actor."…”

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confidence: 99%

The Bête Noire and the Noble Lie: The International Criminal Court and (the Disavowal of) Politics

Royer

2018

Criminal Law, Philosophy

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For the traditional legalistic discourse on the International Criminal Court (ICC), "politics" is a bête noire that compromises the independence of the Court and thus needs to be avoided and overcome. In response to this legalistic approach, a burgeoning body of literature insists that the Court does not exist and operate "beyond politics", arguing that the ICC is an institution where law and politics are intimately connected. The present article seeks to contribute to this "nontraditional" literature by addressing two of its fundamental weaknesses: First, writers of the "non-traditional camp" often present a rather limited view of "politics"; in particular, they have shied away from taking the radical step of portraying and analysing the ICC as a "political actor". This undermines both its critical and constructive potential. Secondly, these commentators offer a simplistic explanation as to why "traditionalists" treat politics as the ICC's bête noire: Traditionalists, they claim, are "legalists" with scant interest in and understanding of politics. By focusing on the ICC's nature as a political actor, this article does not only paint a more nuanced picture of the ICC but also demonstrates the constructive potential of this understanding of the ICC to shed light on the so-called "peace versus justice dilemma". And secondly, it demonstrates that precisely because the ICC is and ought to be a prudent political actor, it must officially disavow politics. The "noble lie" of disavowing politics, therefore, is a prudential strategy to avoid dangerous moral and political consequences and, ultimately, to secure the continued existence of the ICC itself.

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The International Criminal Court and the politics of prosecutions

Cited by 40 publications

References 10 publications

Law and Politics in Transitional Justice

Law and Politics in Transitional Justice

Two idea(l)s of the international rule of law

The Bête Noire and the Noble Lie: The International Criminal Court and (the Disavowal of) Politics

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