International Law and Global Security: Reassessing the Role of the International Criminal Court in the Pursuit of Accountability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67487/tjahs.v2i4.328Keywords:
International Criminal Court, International Law, Global Security, Complementarity, State SovereigntyAbstract
In an international system where crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes frequently escape sanction, the International Criminal Court (ICC), referred to throughout this article by its operational designation, the International Criminal Court (ICC), has emerged as the principal permanent institution mandated to prosecute the gravest offenses of international concern. Yet more than two decades after the entry into force of the Rome Statute, the Court's contribution to global security remains sharply contested. Drawing on structured interviews and focus group discussions with scholars and practitioners of international law, human rights, and security, and a systematic review of doctrinal and empirical literature, this article examines the function, achievements, and constraints of the Court. Anchored in constructivist international relations theory, the analysis finds that the Court's principal difficulties are political interference from powerful non-States Parties and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, chronic resource constraints, an unresolved tension between the complementarity principle and state sovereignty, and persistent perceptions of selective justice in its case docket. At the same time, the Court has secured convictions of genuine deterrent and normative value, expanded victim participation in international proceedings, and catalysed domestic legal reform in several jurisdictions. The article argues that reforms to case-selection transparency, arrest-warrant enforcement mechanisms, and the Security Council's referral and deferral powers are necessary if the Court is to fulfill its promise as an instrument of global security rather than of selective accountability.
References
Abrahamsen, R. (2020). Internationalists, sovereigntists, nativists: Contending visions of world order in Pan-Africanism. Review of International Studies, 46(1), 56–74.
African Union. (2014). Protocol on amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (Malabo Protocol). Adopted 27 June 2014, Malabo.
Akande, D. (2003). The jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over nationals of non-parties: Legal basis and limits. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 1, 618–630.
Akande, D. (2004). International law immunities and the International Criminal Court. American Journal of International Law, 98, 407–432.
Assembly of States Parties. (2017). Resolution ICC-ASP/16/Res.5: Activation of the Court's jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. International Criminal Court. Adopted 14 December 2017.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
Brunnée, J., & Toope, S. J. (2010). Legitimacy and legality in international law: An interactional account. Cambridge University Press.
Cassese, A., & Gaeta, P. (2013). Cassese's international criminal law (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Cassese, A., Gaeta, P., & Jones, J. R. W. D. (2002). The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: A commentary (Vol. III). Oxford University Press.
Charter of the United Nations. (1945). 1 UNTS XVI.
Cryer, R., Friman, H., Robinson, D., & Wilmshurst, E. (2010). An introduction to international criminal law and procedure (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
El Zeidy, M. M. (2008). The gravity threshold under the statute of the International Criminal Court. Criminal Law Forum, 19, 35–57.
Fairlie, M. A. (2011). The United States and the International Criminal Court post-Bush: A beautiful courtship but an unlikely marriage. Berkeley Journal of International Law, 29, 528–576.
Ford, S. (2020). Can the International Criminal Court succeed? An analysis of the empirical evidence of violence prevention. Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review, 43(1), 101–138.
Gaeta, P., & Labuda, P. M. (2016). Article 46 bis and the jurisdiction of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights over international crimes. In G. Werle & M. Vormbaum (Eds.), Africa and the International Criminal Court (pp. 137–154). T.M.C. Asser Press.
Heller, K. J. (2009). Situational gravity under the Rome Statute. In C. Stahn & L. van den Herik (Eds.), Future perspectives on international criminal justice (pp. 227–254). Cambridge University Press.
Hörtnagl, M. (2020). Evaluating the International Criminal Court's performance: An empirical study of the Court's deterrence effects in Darfur, Sudan (Master's dissertation). London School of Economics.
International Criminal Court. (n.d.). Situations under investigation. https://www.icc-cpi.int/situations
Ishimwe, J. L. (2025). Analysing the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court as a deterrent against war crimes (Master's dissertation). University of Rwanda.
Keohane, R. O. (1984). After hegemony: Cooperation and discord in the world political economy. Princeton University Press.
Knottnerus, A. S., & Van der Volder, E. (2015). The AU decision on the ICC: No withdrawal from the fight against impunity but lessons to be learned. Leiden Journal of International Law, 28(4), 577–590.
Koremenos, B., Lipson, C., & Snidal, D. (2001). The rational design of international institutions. International Organization, 55(4), 761–799.
Kress, C. (2005). The Rome Statute and domestic prosecution: The missing link. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 3(1), 509.
McDougal, M. S. (1997). The International Law Commission's draft code of crimes and the necessity for Security Council pre-determination of aggression. In Y. Dinstein & M. Tabory (Eds.), War crimes in international law (pp. 135–152).
Politi, M. (2012). The ICC and the crime of aggression: A dream that came through and the reality ahead. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 10, 267–288.
Prosecutor v. Lubanga Dyilo. (2012). Judgment pursuant to Article 74 of the Statute (Case No. ICC-01/04-01/06-2842). International Criminal Court, Trial Chamber I, 14 March 2012.
Reus-Smit, C. (2013). Constructivism. In S. Burchill et al. (Eds.), Theories of international relations (5th ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. (2010). Resolution RC/Res.6: The crime of aggression. Kampala, 11 June 2010.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. (1998). 2187 UNTS 3 (adopted 17 July 1998; entered into force 1 July 2002).
Rothe, D. L., & Collins, V. E. (2013). The International Criminal Court: A pipe dream to end impunity? International Criminal Law Review, 13, 191.
Schabas, W. (2010). The International Criminal Court: A commentary on the Rome Statute. Oxford University Press.
Schabas, W. (2011). An introduction to the International Criminal Court. Cambridge University Press.
Smeulers, A., Weerdesteijn, M., & Holá, B. (2015). The selection of situations by the ICC: An empirically based evaluation of the OTP's performance. International Criminal Law Review, 15(1), 1–39.
Stahn, C. (2012). Libya, the International Criminal Court and complementarity: A test for 'shared responsibility'. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 10, 325.
Stahn, C., & El Zeidy, M. M. (Eds.). (2011). The International Criminal Court and complementarity: From theory to practice. Cambridge University Press.
UN Security Council. (2005). Resolution 1593 (2005) (S/RES/1593).
UN Security Council. (2011). Resolution 1970 (2011) (S/RES/1970).
UN Security Council. (2014). Draft resolution S/2014/348 (Syrian Arab Republic): Not adopted owing to the negative vote of a permanent member, 22 May 2014.
Voeten, E. (2020). Populism and backlashes against international courts. Perspectives on Politics, 18(2), 407–422.
Weerdesteijn, M., & Holá, B. (2020). Tool in the R2P toolbox? Analysing the role of the International Criminal Court in the three pillars of the Responsibility to Protect. Criminal Law Forum, 31(3), 377–414.
Wendt, A. (1999). Social theory of international politics. Cambridge University Press.
Werle, G. (2009). Principles of international criminal law. T.M.C. Asser Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Author
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
