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.
Introduction: International criminal law in context
Philipp Kastner
Part I: Contextualising international criminal law
- The conscience of civilisation, and its discontents: a counter history of international criminal law
- The subjects of international criminal law
- The idea of transitional justice: international criminal justice and beyond
- Genocide: to prevent and punish "radical evil"
- Crimes against humanity: the concept of humanity in international law
- War crimes: increasing compliance with international humanitarian law through international criminal law?
- Sexual and gender-based crimes
- The crime of aggression: shifting authority for international peace?
- Rethinking liberal legality through the African Court on Justice and Human Rights: re-situating economic crimes and other enablers of violence
- The ad hoc tribunals: image, origins, pathways, legacies
- Hybrid tribunals: institutional experiments and the potential for creativity within international criminal law
- The International Criminal Court: between law and politics
- Complementarity revisited: national prosecution of international crimes and the gaps in international law
- The influence of international human rights law on international criminal procedure Yvonne McDermott
- ‘And where the offence is, let the great axe fall’: sentencing under international criminal law
- The role of victims: emerging rights to participation and reparation in international criminal courts
Gerry Simpson
Frédéric Mégret
Wendy Lambourne
Part II: International Crimes
Eyal Mayroz
Raphaëlle Nollez-Goldbach
Dale Stephens and Thomas Wooden
Rosemary Grey
Sean Richmond
Kamari Maxine Clarke
Part III: The implementation of international criminal law
Timothy William Waters
Philipp Kastner
Christian M. De Vos
Fannie Lafontaine and Sophie Gagné
Mark A. Drumbl
Stephen Smith Cody and Eric Stover
Biography
Philipp Kastner is an Assistant Professor in International Law at the Law School of the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia.
