International politics and international criminal justice

The policy brief examines the tension between peace and justice in the context of war terminations, specifically analyzing the role of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It argues that the ICTY's early lack of effectiveness was due to a lack of political will, as it was initially used as a 'public relations devise' to avoid military action. However, the author contends that resolute justice serves as a deterrent to war criminals, incapacitates political actors through isolation, and consolidates peace by preventing future cycles of violence. The text highlights that when peace processes prioritize impunity, they incentivize the accumulation of power over the cessation of atrocities.

• The ICTY failed to stop or reduce atrocities in the Balkans during its early stages, as evidenced by the 1995 massacres in Srebrenica and Žepa, because the tribunal was originally intended as a public relations tool to avoid international military intervention.
• In the 1995 Dayton Agreement, criminal law was viewed as a 'deal breaker', leading to the exclusion of the ICTY from the agenda and a period where NATO troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina refused to execute arrest warrants until mid-1998.
• The indictment of Milošević during the Kosovo conflict demonstrated that international criminal justice can be used to diplomatically isolate and demonize leaders, though diplomats initially feared it would eliminate their primary interlocutor and hinder peace.
• International justice contributes to peace through three primary mechanisms: deterrence, which discourages atrocities by removing the prospect of impunity; incapacitation, which weakens prominent actors through indictments; and peace consolidation, which prevents future violence by confronting the past.

APA

Hartmann, F. (2007). International politics and international criminal justice. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/8f22b931-3fff-4848-99c4-ffb4b7753e65/Hartmann 2007 International Politics and Criminal Justice PRIO Policy Brief 4-07.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Hartmann, Florence. International politics and international criminal justice. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2007. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/8f22b931-3fff-4848-99c4-ffb4b7753e65/Hartmann 2007 International Politics and Criminal Justice PRIO Policy Brief 4-07.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hartmann |first1=Florence |title=International politics and international criminal justice |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2007 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/8f22b931-3fff-4848-99c4-ffb4b7753e65/Hartmann 2007 International Politics and Criminal Justice PRIO Policy Brief 4-07.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hartmann2007international, author = {Hartmann, Florence}, title = {{International politics and international criminal justice}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2007}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/8f22b931-3fff-4848-99c4-ffb4b7753e65/Hartmann 2007 International Politics and Criminal Justice PRIO Policy Brief 4-07.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }