Acceptance of International Criminal Justice

Literature Review

The acceptance literature review explores a range of aspects that are related to the study of the acceptance of international criminal justice, in order to provide an overview of the existing literature and encourage further research in this area. It first elaborates on four aspects of the concept of acceptance of international criminal justice - who accepts, what is accepted, when acceptance occurs, and what acceptance entails - in order to explore the complexity of the subject. Then, it reviews the main debates in transitional justice and international criminal justice discourses that touch on the issue of acceptance, focusing on four areas of debate. 

First, it looks at fundamental critiques of international criminal justice, such as different understandings of ‘justice’ in various socio-cultural contexts and the question whether affected populations prefer alternative mechanisms to criminal justice, such as amnesties or truth commissions. 

Second, it investigates the range of reactions to the performance of international courts and tribunals. Particularly when courts appear to only address selective aspects of crimes, such as crimes committed during a particular time span, a limited number of perpetrators are indicted, or when perpetrators are charged with selected crimes only, then international courts may be criticized. 

Third, the paper discusses the role of politics and politicization in mediating the acceptance of international criminal justice. 

Fourth, meaningful communication, including outreach also relates to increased acceptance of international courts. Finally, the review discusses the dynamics of acceptance and calls for a more long-term and multi-method research on acceptance.

You can find the publication here.