ABSTRACT

International Criminal Law in Context provides a critical and contextual introduction to the fundamentals of international criminal law. It goes beyond a doctrinal analysis focused on the practice of international tribunals to draw on a variety of perspectives, capturing the complex processes of internationalisation that criminal law has experienced over the past few decades.

The book considers international criminal law in context and seeks to account for the political and cultural factors that have influenced – and that continue to influence – this still-emerging body of law. Considering the substance, procedures, objectives, justifications and impacts of international criminal law, it addresses such topics as:

• the history of international criminal law;

• the subjects of international criminal law;

• transitional justice and international criminal justice;

• genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression;

• sexual and gender-based crimes;

• international and hybrid criminal tribunals;

• sentencing under international criminal law; and

• the role of victims in international criminal procedure.

The book will appeal to those who want to study international criminal law in a critical and contextualised way. Presenting original research, it will also be of interest to scholars and practitioners already familiar with the main legal and policy issues relating to this body of law.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

International criminal law in context

part I|59 pages

Contextualising international criminal law

chapter 1|17 pages

The Conscience of Civilisation, and Its Discontents

A counter history of international criminal law

chapter 3|22 pages

The Idea of Transitional Justice

International criminal justice and beyond

part 2|128 pages

International crimes

chapter 4|20 pages

Genocide

To prevent and punish ‘radical evil’

chapter 5|18 pages

Crimes Against Humanity

The concept of humanity in international law

chapter 6|21 pages

WAR CRIMES

Increasing compliance with international humanitarian law through international criminal law?

chapter 7|19 pages

Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes

chapter 8|21 pages

The Crime of Aggression

Shifting authority for international peace?

chapter 9|27 pages

Rethinking Liberal Legality Through the African Court of Justice and Human Rights

Re-situating economic crimes and other enablers of violence

part III|139 pages

The implementation of international criminal law

chapter 10|22 pages

The Ad Hoc Tribunals

Image, origins, pathways, legacies

chapter 11|19 pages

Hybrid Tribunals

Institutional experiments and the potential for creativity within international criminal law

chapter 12|20 pages

The International Criminal Court

Between law and politics

chapter 13|20 pages

Complementarity Revisited

National prosecutions of international crimes and the gaps in international law

chapter 15|20 pages

‘And Where the Offence is, Let the Great Axe Fall’

Sentencing under international criminal law

chapter 16|19 pages

The Role of Victims

Emerging rights to participation and reparation in international criminal courts