‘Responsibility to Prosecute’ in an age of global governmentality: The International Criminal Court

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Author
Turan G.
Date
2016Journal Title
Cooperation and Conflict
ISSN
108367
Publisher
SAGE Publications Ltd
Volume
51
Issue
1
Pages
20 - 37
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
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http://hdl.handle.net/11693/26618Abstract
This paper critically examines the discursive power of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was established in 2002 with unprecedented jurisdiction in terms of both crimes being prosecuted and territorial scope. What evokes a critical engagement is not only the criminalization of certain acts in international law, but also the evolution of a permanent international criminal court with forms of power enabling the sanctioning, prosecution and punishment of these acts. Analysing how current international criminal law developed and is being shaped brings to the surface particular power structures embedded in legal texts and practices. By subjecting the discourse of the ICC to a Foucauldian analysis and arguing for the utility of Foucault’s concepts in analysing contemporary international criminal legal discourse, the paper contributes to our understanding of novel techniques and procedures of contemporary global governmentality, and how the ‘international community’ is constituted as both a subject and an object within this recent power modality. © 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.