ABSTRACT

International criminal law has become the preferred regulatory tool for addressing certain organized violent behaviour. However, the growth of international criminal law has not improved global order. Indeed, the opposite is the case with recent increases in the levels of organized violence. This Chapter examines the crimes and modes of participation justiciable before judicial mechanisms used to respond to three conflicts: East Timor, Chad and the former Yugoslavia. In addition to those judicial mechanisms, the Chapter considers the International Criminal Court. The Chapter argues that, although the International Criminal Court has played an important role in advancing specificity of standards, the polycentric nature of international criminal law and the resulting regulatory pluralism creates incoherence in overall regulatory design. The Chapter further contends that to improve global order international criminal law would benefi t from adding further principle-based standards to the current rules that address organized violent behaviour.