War Crimes Tribunals

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article reviews the state of the field in three crucial issues about war crimes tribunals: victors' justice, outlawing war, and the trade-off between peace and justice. In all three, the tension between the partiality of politics and the impartiality of law is stark and enduring. Although international tribunals are often billed as simply the extension of the domestic rule of law, there is no set legitimate authority in place in international relations. Even the permanent International Criminal Court is brand new, and its permanence is hardly guaranteed. The question of who judges is particularly salient because of the weak consensus on underlying values in the international system. The ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda did not formally include aggression in their charters. The world is in the bizarre position of pursuing an international legal order that enshrines the key tenets of jus in bello, while largely ignoring jus ad bellum.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of Law and Politics
PublisherOxford University Press
ISBN (Electronic)9780191576980
ISBN (Print)9780199208425
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 14 2008

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Social Sciences

Keywords

  • International relations
  • Justice
  • Law
  • Peace
  • Politics
  • Rwanda
  • War
  • War crimes tribunals
  • Yugoslavia

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'War Crimes Tribunals'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this