Search: Affective Justice: Book Symposium: A Response

...from the source of justice. More importantly, the African criminal justice system was hinged on certain religious beliefs. There was a strong faith in supernatural participation in the adjudication process which deterred judges from serving corrupt justice. For instance, among the people of southeastern Nigeria, the Arochukwu god “Ibini Ukpabi” was feared and respected as a true justice-dispensing god. Similar gods of justice, like Shango and Ogun, were worshipped by the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. There existed the fear of earthly and nirvana punishments for those who violated societal...

emitting nations. Posner’s work is thus not hypocritical in the way that conventional IEL can be. It is, however, political (we do not regard this as a bad thing) and in our view serves the same Western interests that the IEL discipline generally serves, only more blatantly. From a substantive point of view, Posner’s response reiterates the central argument of Climate Change Justice, i.e. that climate change and justice should be delinked because the justice debate ‘muddies’ the already troubled waters of climate negotiations and because endless qualms about fairness...

rigid and harshly dichotomous “peace versus justice” debate. The argument is attractive because it represents an attempt to find ground between the polarizing views that there is “no peace without justice” and “there is no justice without peace.” While the sequencing argument is closer to the latter in suggesting that justice may have to follow peace it largely acknowledges that justice is necessary in the long term. Unlike scholars of a realist bent who are sceptical of any attempt to achieve justice in conflict and post-conflict contexts, the point is...

...(among them Marxen 1984, 38; Cassel 1996, 219; Slye, 2002, 240; Ambos 2009, 51; Maiello 2007, 419; Mañalich 2010, 24; with a distinction between conditional and blanket self-amnesties, Sarkin 2017). Second lesson: We still need transitional justice This brings me to the second lesson. As some scholars already affirmed (McGovern 2020; Murphy 2021; Lollini 2021), the polarized American society might benefit from the establishment of transitional justice mechanisms. Twenty-one years after Ruti Teitel’s renowned book Transitional Justice (see the recent Symposium), transitional justice is no longer considered an alternative to...

interested in whether my analysis holds up descriptively. Is it convincing, or does the more traditional doctrinal distinction carry greater weight? Or, perhaps there’s another unarticulated explanation for Justice Scalia’s views? Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito expressed their own disdain for using international and foreign law in the constitutional context in their confirmation hearings and other justices have expressed similar hostility (e.g., Thomas). Thus, I’d think it’s important to explain Justice Scalia’s overarching method here in order to appreciate whether it will have wider appeal within the Court in...

of memory and justice seems too sharp. To some extent, the article hearkens back to an earlier period of transitional justice; the post-Cold War 1990’s when states seemed to be in control of their transitional justice processes and could elevate the needs of the people over abstract universal demands of justice. But is this view relevant given contemporary developments; such as the globalization of transitional justice. Given the many other actors and institutions which are now involved in these processes I wonder about notion of a goal of arriving at...

in other contexts where the ICC has intervened, that someone is working towards justice; that someone is on the side of those who suffer atrocity and political violence. Martin Luther King famously said that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” International criminal justice isn’t available anywhere or everywhere. But it could be on offer to at least some victims and survivors in Israel and Palestine. Thwarting it, frustrating it, and opposing it entrenches selective justice, undermines the ICC, and shackles international criminal justice to its most limited self....

...climate justice. Traditional concepts of guardianship over the earth combined with recognition of the need to serve the interests of society offer great scope for the incorporation of climate justice into Islamic law and policy. The Islamic Declaration on Climate Change shows there is at least some desire to legitimize climate justice as being a necessary component to Islamic law, while the fatwas from the MUI offer an example of how the intersection between environmental issues and social justice can be deployed in practice. Given that climate justice remains such...

The following is a guest-post by Mark Kersten. Mark is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the London School of Economics and author of the (excellent) blog Justice in Conflict. His research examines the nexus of conflict resolution and the pursuit of international criminal justice. Trying to Get to the Bottom of the “Peace versus Justice” Debate in Libya There are valid concerns and tensions which arise from pursuing justice in the midst of ongoing and unresolved conflict. The development of international criminal law has seen the transformation of...

liberalization, freedom, and so on, we can see ways in which the aegis of jus post bellum overlaps with the aims of transitional justice. Justice is not conceived as strictly punishment oriented, as assumed in the legalist paradigm. Nor is it confined to restitution and the restorative dimension implied by the earlier understanding of post-war justice. Indeed, it could well take in the full context and modalities of transition and transformation. The issue is being reconceived in terms of justice as security. Within the evolving framework, there is a concern...

country that is, according to the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, “devoid of independent institutions, a civil society, and a judiciary able to provide justice and redress.” At this critical juncture, the availability of the ICC— an internationally recognized body—to promulgate principles of global importance is vital to fostering universal justice principles and steering Libya away from victor’s justice. So how can the ICC inspire the criminal justice reform process within Libya? Continued monitoring by international entities can be a catalyst for reforms of national justice systems, encouraging states...

Sierra Leone (SCSL) and the forthcoming law review special issue on the book, would not have been possible. I am indebted to them all. In the remainder of this post, allow me to briefly introduce the main chapters and arguments in the book which will be debated in the series of posts that will follow over the next week or so. In a final post, at the end of the present symposium, I will return to respond to the main comments and criticisms of the book. It must be common...