International Criminal Law

War and violence haven t been banished from our world, but the way we respond to them has changed. Increasingly, that response involves formal mechanisms courts, and truth commissions that combine human rights, the laws of war, and criminal law. But why have we chosen this path? And what does it mean for criminal law to be international?

The course surveys the development of legal responses to war and atrocities, especially through principal international tribunals of the modern era, including courts for the Yugoslav conflicts, World War II, Central and West Africa, and others. Students will examine the institutions, processes, norms, and substantive commitments of international criminal law, in its broader context as one response (among many) to mass violence, and as a mechanism for the expression, and control, of values.