Justice in Conflict – The Book!

I could not be more excited to announce the publication of my book, Justice in Conflict The Effects of the International Criminal Court’s Interventions on Ending Wars and Building Peace. The book explores many of the same themes as the blog, namely the politics of international criminal justice and the effects of the International Criminal Court on conflict, peace, justice processes. It is both a response and a challenge to the ‘peace versus justice’ debate that readers are very familiar with. Here’s a brief description:

What happens when the international community simultaneously pursues peace and justice in response to ongoing conflicts? What are the effects of interventions by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the wars in which the institution intervenes? Is holding perpetrators of mass atrocities accountable a help or hindrance to conflict resolution? This book offers an in-depth examination of the effects of interventions by the ICC on peace, justice and conflict processes. The ‘peace versus justice’ debate, wherein it is argued that the ICC has either positive or negative effects on ‘peace’, has spawned in response to the Court’s propensity to intervene in conflicts as they still rage. This book is a response to, and a critical engagement with, this debate.

Building on theoretical and analytical insights from the fields of conflict and peace studies, conflict resolution, and negotiation theory, the book develops a novel analytical framework to study the Court’s effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes. This framework is applied to two cases: Libya and northern Uganda. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the core of the book examines the empirical effects of the ICC on each case. The book also examines why the ICC has the effects that it does, delineating the relationship between the interests of states that refer situations to the Court and the ICC’s institutional interests, arguing that the negotiation of these interests determines which side of a conflict the ICC targets and thus its effects on peace, justice, and conflict processes.

While the effects of the ICC’s interventions are ultimately and inevitably mixed, the book makes a unique contribution to the empirical record on ICC interventions and presents a novel and sophisticated means of studying, analyzing, and understanding the effects of the Court’s interventions in Libya, northern Uganda – and beyond.

The book is available for advance purchase in both hardcover and softcover and will be officially published mid-June.

The book owes many people many thanks. But I wanted to stress here that I have been particularly fortunate to have worked with a wonderful group of people at Oxford University Press (OUP). Working with Merel Alstein, Nicole Leyland and their team was an immense pleasure. They were not only patient but gracious and genuinely excited about the project throughout the editing and publication period. They also allowed me to imagine and design the cover with their visual design team (so be sure to blame my aesthetic if you’re not a fan!). Most importantly, OUP has agreed to make up to 200 copies of the book available, with all royalties I earn from sales of the book being used to pay for those copies to be shipped to libraries and universities across Africa, especially to those in ICC-affected countries. This reflects our shared conviction that it is our duty not only to take research out of conflict and post-conflict societies where we conduct research, but to give something back.

I recognize that this is a bit of shameless self-promotion but I hope that some readers will find the book to be of interest. Thank you, again, to the wonderful people at OUP. And as always, I look forward to your feedback!