Governance, Order, and the International Criminal Court

Book excerpt: Since entering into force in July 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has emerged as one of the most intriguing models of global governance. This innovative edited volume investigates the challenges facing the ICC, including the dynamics of politicized justice, US opposition, an evolving and flexible institutional design, the juridification of political evil, negative and positive global responsibility, the apparent conflict between peace and justice, and the cosmopolitanization of law. It argues that realpolitik has tested the ICC's capacity in a mostly positive manner and that the ambivalence between realpolitik and justice constitutes a novel predicament for extending global governance. The arguments of each essay are framed by a timely and original approach designed to assess the nuanced relationship between realpolitik and global justice. The approach - which interweaves four International Relations approaches, rationalism, constructivism, communicative action theory, and moral cosmopolitanism - is guided by the metaphor of the switch levers of train tracks, in which the Prosecutor and Judges serve as the pivotal agents switching the (crisscrossing) tracks of realpolitik and cosmopolitanism. With this visual aid, this volume of essays shows just how the ICC has become one of the most fascinating points of intersection between law, politics, and ethics.