Global Justice or Global Revenge
Encyclopedia
Global Justice or Global Revenge? International Criminal Justice at the Crossroads (2003) is a book by Austrian philosopher Hans Köchler
Hans Köchler
Hans Köchler is a professor of philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and president of the International Progress Organization, a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations...

, who was appointed by the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 as observer of the Lockerbie bombing trial
Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial began on 3 May 2000, 11 years, 4 months and 13 days after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988...

 in the Netherlands (2000-2002). Turkish and Indian editions of the book were published in 2005, an Arabic edition was published in 2011.

The book deals with the evolving concept of universal jurisdiction
Universal jurisdiction
Universal jurisdiction or universality principle is a principle in public international law whereby states claim criminal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state, regardless of nationality, country of residence, or any other...

, the doctrine of humanitarian intervention
Humanitarian intervention
Humanitarian intervention "refers to a state using military force against another state when the chief publicly declared aim of that military action is ending human-rights violations being perpetrated by the state against which it is directed."...

, legal questions of international terrorism, and whether international criminal justice
International criminal law
International criminal law is a body of international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. Principally, it deals with genocide, war crimes, crimes against...

 can at all be practiced in the absence of a global balance of power
Balance of power in international relations
In international relations, a balance of power exists when there is parity or stability between competing forces. The concept describes a state of affairs in the international system and explains the behavior of states in that system...

. The book analyzes the various international criminal courts since Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

 and provides a critical assessment of the prospects of the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...

. It challenges the assumption of established legal theory in which the normative framework of criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

 can be abstracted from actual power relations and offers elements of a new doctrine on the "dialectical relationship" between power
Political power
Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...

 and law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

.

Quote from the author

The gradual assertion of the International Criminal Court's authority will be the test case for the separation of powers
Separation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...

, which is the indispensable requirement of the rule of law, whether at the national or international level. Only a fully independent international court will guarantee that a system of global justice
Global justice
Global justice is an issue in political philosophy arising from the concern that the world at large is unjust.-Context:The broader philosophical context of the global justice debate, in both its contemporary and historical forms, is the issue of impartiality...

, associated with universal jurisdiction
Universal jurisdiction
Universal jurisdiction or universality principle is a principle in public international law whereby states claim criminal jurisdiction over persons whose alleged crimes were committed outside the boundaries of the prosecuting state, regardless of nationality, country of residence, or any other...

, will not turn into a system of global revenge where political interests, not the principles of impartiality
Impartiality
Impartiality is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons.-Philosophical concepts of impartiality:According to Bernard Gert, "A is...

 and fairness, determine the practice of international criminal law
International criminal law
International criminal law is a body of international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. Principally, it deals with genocide, war crimes, crimes against...

.

Contents

I. The Developing Idea and Practice of International Criminal Justice in the Context of State Sovereignty and Individual Responsibility
  • 1. Preliminary remarks
  • 2. The rationale of universal jurisdiction
  • 3. The dilemma of international criminal justice in the framework of state-centered international law: The question of enforcement
  • 4. Efforts towards international criminal justice since the 19th century
  • 5. The primary avenues of international criminal justice: A critical appraisal
  • 6. Problems of the application of universal jurisdiction by the ICC under the conditions of a unipolar world order


II. Humanitarian Intervention in the Context of Modern Power Politics
  • 1. The concept of humanitarian intervention and its historical background
  • 2. The development of international law and the prohibition of the use of force in the 20th century
  • 3. The revival of interventionism in the new imperial order of the 21st century
  • 4. The doctrine of humanitarian intervention and the de facto reintroduction of the jus ad bellum
  • 5. The renaissance of power politics in humanitarian clothes – The end of international law?


III. The United Nations, the International Rule of Law and Terrorism
  • 1. The United Nations Organization in the global power constellation
  • 2. Obstacles to the enforcement of the international rule of law in a unipolar power structure
  • 3. The dilemma faced by the United Nations in the fight against terrorism
  • 4. The history of United Nations codification efforts and measures against terrorism
  • 5. The way out of the dilemma: Comprehensive definition of terrorism by means of integration into existing instruments of international humanitarian law and international criminal law
  • 6. The conditions for a consistent anti-terrorist policy of the United Nations


IV. Annex
  • 1. Memorandum on the indictments by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1999)
  • 2. International criminal justice and power politics: The Lockerbie case (UN observer reports)
  • 3. The Baku Declaration on Global Dialogue and Peaceful Co-Existence Among Nations and the Threats Posed by International Terrorism (2001)

Publishers' web sites


Reviews


Further reading


See also

  • Hans Köchler
    Hans Köchler
    Hans Köchler is a professor of philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and president of the International Progress Organization, a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations...

  • Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission
    Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission
    Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission stemmed from the dispute between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Libya concerning arrangements for the trial of two Libyans accused of causing the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.The dispute was resolved on...

  • Hans Köchler Bibliography and Reader
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