(Photo of Toronto: TsaiProject / Flickr Creative Commons)

Dear Readers,

It is with great pleasure that I announce that I, along with the blog, are heading to the University of Toronto. I recently accepted a two-year post doc from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and will be based at the Munk School of Global Affairs, working with Ron Levi.

After five years of working on the nexus of ongoing war, conflict resolution and international criminal justice, the research I am preparing to undertake will examine the historical and political relationship between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the ‘BRICS’ (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The premise of the project is rather simple: in international relations, we have been told two stories: one, that with the creation of the ICC, international criminal justice has become a permanent reality in international politics; and two, that as a result of the rise of new powers, particularly the BRICS, we are witnessing a re-ordering of the distribution of global power. The key question is: are these trajectories compatible?

Over the next two years, my research will explore the engagement of the BRICS with the ICC since the Rome Statute negotiations through to the current day. With a general paucity of literature regarding the relationship between specific states and the Court (with the notable exception of the United States), I hope this work will not only illuminate the relationship between BRICS and the ICC but also contribute to our knowledge of the prickly and political intersection of diplomacy, power and international criminal justice.

As always, thank you from the bottom of my heart and the tips of my fingers for your support and readership.

Mark