Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the themes of rules indeterminacy and hegemonic technique, particularly in Martti Koskenniemi's work, that informs the investigation of the contemporary debate on universal jurisdiction over crimes against international law. It discusses the ideas of international law as a language and a 'site of politics' that illustrate the structural properties of international legal argument (indeterminacy) and the move to political discretion that accords to the structural biases of institutions. The book provides a chronological account of the development of 'hegemonic' control of a moralist approach that pulled on the Eichmann narrative to a formalist approach that seemed to be triggered by the Arrest Warrant case. It also discusses the formalist approach's hegemony within Arrest Warrant judgment, continuing with what appeared to be a contagion effect in the Belgian, Spanish and UK amendment laws.