Illegitimate Justice

How Locals Talk About International Criminal Courts

Drawing from extensive primary research in Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kenya, Izabela Steflja shows that the stories locals tell about international courts differ radically from those told by the international community.

International criminal courts exist to help countries and communities move forward after atrocities and to bring those accused of war crimes to justice. Yet local residents and witnesses often perceive them to lack political legitimacy.

Drawn from extensive primary research in Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kenya, Illegitimate Justice challenges the view that as long as international courts are striving for the concept of justice, establishing legal precedents, and prosecuting war criminals, they are fulfilling their purpose. Through interviews with individuals in the fields of education, law, religion, politics, the media, and civil society, Izabela Steflja listens to the people affected by conflict and by the justice processes meant to repair harm. She reveals how international courts have failed local communities through lack of accountability – even, at times, active disregard. The stories local people tell about international courts differ radically from those the international community tells itself about justice and reconciliation.

Combining field research with an original comparative narrative model, Illegitimate Justice will be invaluable reading for people active in post-conflict communities and work, as well as for legal, political, and human rights students and scholars.

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