POL International Midterm

Q: What is the central “promise” of global retributive justice?

A: It rests on the idea that no peace without justice—that prosecuting and punishing perpetrators of serious international crimes delivers accountability, deters future crimes, helps end conflicts, and builds lasting peace

Q: What key assumption underlies this promise (global retributive justice)?

A: That just retribution—formal punishment for wrongdoing—can by itself create deterrence, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding outcomes. this assumption is normative and untested empirically

Q: What is meant by the “predicament” of global retributive justice?

A: Despite its moral appeal, the paradigm often performs the virtue of justice without delivering its substance, because it privileges punishment over understanding broader social, political, and structural causes of violence

Q: What is Global Public Law (GPL)?

A: GPL is the evolving body of law that prioritizes the protection of individuals over state sovereignty. It expands traditional public international law to include human rights, humanitarian law, and international criminal law, emphasizing human security

Q: How does GPL differ from traditional Public International Law (PIL)?

A:

• PIL regulates relations among states based on sovereignty (originating from the Peace of Westphalia 1648).

• GPL governs human protection—laws and norms that apply to individuals and non-state actors to prevent mass atrocities

Q: What historical event laid the foundation for public international law?

A: The Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years’ War and established the legal principles of state sovereignty, non-interference, and religious neutrality

Q: Who were the early theorists of public international law?

A: Francisco de Vitoria (1483–1546) and Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), whose writings on natural law and sovereignty influenced the moral and legal basis of the Law of Nations

Q: What are the three main bodies of Global Public Law?

A:

1. International Human Rights Law (IHRL)

2. International Humanitarian Law (IHL)

3. International Criminal Law (ICL)
   —all designed to protect individuals from mass human-rights abuses

Q: What does IHRL focus on? Kenneth Roth

A: The protection of individuals and groups against human-rights abuses by states, limiting what governments may do and obligating them to safeguard rights such as life, liberty, and equality

Q: What is the core purpose of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)?

A: Derived from the Law of War, IHL regulates conduct in armed conflict and protects non-combatants and prisoners of war from inhumane treatment—thus known as the law of humanity

Q: What are the four most serious international crimes codified in modern international criminal law?

A:

1. Crime of Aggression

2. War Crimes

3. Genocide

4. Crimes against Humanity

Q: What is the concept of Human Security?

A: A post-Cold-War idea focusing on freedom from fear (protection from violence) and freedom from want (protection from poverty and structural violence). It reframes security around individuals rather than states

Q: What does the abbreviation R2P stand for and mean?

A: Responsibility to Protect—a global norm asserting that sovereignty entails responsibility; states must protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. If they fail, the international community has a duty to intervene

Q: How did R2P redefine state sovereignty?

A: Sovereignty is no longer absolute; it is conditional upon protecting citizens. Failure to do so legitimizes international action through collective means—legal, diplomatic, or military

Q: What is the ICC’s role in global retributive justice?

A: The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutes individuals for the four core crimes and embodies the institutionalization of retribution as human protection, as expressed in its Rome Statute (1998)

Q: What are the three types of international criminal courts/tribunals (ICCs/Ts)?

A:

1. Ad hoc tribunals (e.g., Nuremberg, ICTY, ICTR)

2. Hybrid tribunals (e.g., SCSL, ECCC, SPSC)

3. Permanent court (ICC)

Q: What are the four criteria used to assess the effectiveness of ICCs/Ts?

A:

1. Accountability / Retribution

2. Crime Deterrence

3. Conflict Termination / Prevention

4. Peacebuilding / Rule of Law

Q: What are the three theoretical traditions explaining international law’s function?

A:

1. Contractual tradition (Liberal cooperation between states)

2. Sociological tradition (Influence of law on elites & public opinion)

3. Critical tradition (Realist view—powerful states manipulate law for self-interest)

Q: What are independent, dependent, and intervening variables in this framework?

A:

• Independent: the formal trials / actions of ICCs/Ts.

• Dependent: outcomes—retribution, deterrence, peace, etc.

• Intervening: external factors (e.g., military intervention, amnesty) that condition or distort effects

Q: What are auxiliary outcome CPOs in process tracing?

A: Observations used to test whether the expected effects (like deterrence or peacebuilding) actually occur as a result of the main cause (formal trials), strengthening empirical validation

Q: Why does the author argue that prosecution ≠ peace?

A: Because formal punishment may symbolize virtue without addressing political compromise, reconciliation, or socio-economic conditions necessary for durable peace

Q: What does the term “victor’s justice” refer to?

A: A critique that international tribunals (e.g., Nuremberg) often reflect the interests and morality of the victors, punishing defeated powers while ignoring crimes by the winners

Q: What distinguishes hybrid tribunals from others?

A: They combine domestic and international judges, laws, and institutions—designed to enhance local legitimacy and international expertise (e.g., SCSL, ECCC, SPSC)

Why is empirical evaluation essential in global retributive justice?

A: Because normative legal reasoning alone cannot determine whether tribunals actually achieve deterrence, accountability, or peace; empirical data provide evidence of real-world impact

Q: What are ad hoc tribunals, and what is their main limitation?

A: Temporary tribunals created for specific conflicts (e.g., Nuremberg, ICTY, ICTR). They faced accusations of bias and limited sustainability once their mandates ended

Q: What is the critical finding the author anticipates?

A: That global retributive justice, by itself, is not sufficient to ensure peace or justice unless broader democratic governance and regional institutions exist

Q: What does “guilt individualization” mean?

A: The legal practice of holding individuals, not states or groups, accountable for international crimes—central to modern international criminal justice

Q: What is Global Criminal Justice Governance (GCJG)?

A: The network of institutions, processes, and actors—state and non-state—that collectively enforce accountability for serious international crimes (e.g., ICC system)

Q: When did International Human Rights Law formally emerge?

A: After World War II — first enshrined in the UN Charter (1945) and then in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), marking the institutional birth of global human-rights protection

Q: What historical idea does IHRL seek to end or prevent?

A: Dehumanization — the process of stripping people of dignity through oppression, exclusion, or violence; IHRL’s goal is to prevent such abuse, particularly by governments

Q: What are the religious roots of the human-rights tradition?

A: Derived from Christian natural-law theology (Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther etc.), combining Jewish ethics (justice & sanctity of life), Greek virtue reasoning, and Roman legal personhood to stress human dignity and moral equality

Q: Did other religions contribute concepts relevant to rights?

A: Yes — Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Confucianism each emphasize compassion, harmony, and responsibility, though some (e.g., Confucianism) prioritize hierarchy over individual equality

Q: How did Enlightenment philosophers transform the idea of rights?

A: They made rights secular and rational, arguing that legitimate government derives from the consent of the governed and must protect life, liberty, and property — key figures: Spinoza, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Kant

Q: What are Kant’s central contributions to human-rights philosophy?

A:

Humans must be treated as ends in themselves, never as means.

Legitimate states exist to preserve inalienable freedom and equality.

Introduced the idea of cosmopolitan right — universal hospitality and dignity across borders

Q: What are the primary sources of IHRL?

A: International treaties and customary law (legally binding instruments between states

Q: What are the secondary sources of IHRL?

A: Resolutions and general principles of law adopted by states within the international community (e.g., UN General Assembly resolutions)

Q: Which three core pillars of the UN Charter anchor IHRL?

A: Peace – Human Rights – Development

Q: What tension exists within the UN Charter regarding human rights?

A: It promotes rights but also reaffirms state sovereignty and non-intervention, creating a persistent conflict between individual protection and state autonomy

Q: What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948)?

A: A non-binding UN resolution that first articulated universal rights of “the human family” — freedom of speech, belief, and freedom from fear and want — laying the moral foundation for later treaties

Q: What does Article 2 of the UDHR establish?

A: Non-discrimination: Everyone is entitled to the rights and freedoms of the Declaration “without distinction of any kind such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

Q: List the two core 1966 International Covenants that operationalized the UDHR.

A:

ICCPR – International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

ICESCR – International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Q: Give five examples of Civil and Political Rights protected by the ICCPR.

A: Freedom from torture and slavery; right to fair trial and due process; freedom of movement, religion, and expression; peaceful assembly; political participation

Q: Give three examples of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights protected by the ICESCR

A: Right to work under fair conditions, social security, and an adequate standard of living (food, housing, health, education)

Q: Name four other core UN human-rights treaties adopted during the Cold War.

A:

Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (1965)

Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1979)

Convention against Torture (1984)

Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

Q: What two post-Cold War treaties further expanded IHRL?

A: Convention for the Protection from Enforced Disappearances (2006) and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006 / 2008)

Q: List four key procedural principles of IHRL.

A:

Presumption of innocence

Right to a fair and expeditious trial before an independent court

Doctrine of jure novit curia (“the court knows the law”)

Principle of ne bis in idem (protection from double jeopardy

Q: What is the meaning of jure novit curia?

A: “The court knows the law” — judges must apply law independently of the arguments presented by the parties

Q: What does ne bis in idem protect against?

A: Double jeopardy — being prosecuted twice for the same offence; once acquitted or convicted, a person cannot be retried for the same crime

Q: Differentiate between the ICCPR and ECHR regarding double jeopardy.

A: The ICCPR Article 14(7) strictly forbids retrial after final judgment, while the ECHR Protocol No. 7 Art. 4(2) permits reopening a case if new evidence or a fundamental defect emerges — making ECHR protection slightly weaker

Q: Define jus ad bellum and jus in bello.

A: -

• Jus ad bellum: Conditions under which states may legitimately resort to war (the right to go to war).

• Jus in bello: Rules governing conduct during war (the right in war).

These two form the core of the Law of War

Q: Why was the Law of War renamed the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC)?

A: Because by the 1960s conflicts were often internal or non-traditional; the term LOAC better reflected new realities of non-international wars

Q: How did International Humanitarian Law (IHL) emerge from LOAC?

A: In the 1970s it shifted emphasis from military regulation to humanitarian protection, focusing on civilian safety and non-combatant rights based on jus in bello principles

Q: What is the primary purpose of IHL?

A: To humanize warfare by protecting people not taking part in hostilities and prohibiting inhumane treatment of combatants and civilians alike

Q: How do IHRL and IHL overlap conceptually?

A: Both are human-centric branches of Global Public Law, emphasizing the inherent dignity and worth of the individual and placing limits on sovereign power and armed force

Q: What is the overall purpose of International Criminal Law (ICL)?

A: ICL aims to hold individuals — not states — criminally responsible for the gravest international offenses (e.g., genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, aggression) and thus enforce the global moral principle that some crimes are so serious they concern all humankind

Q: How does ICL relate to International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law?

A: IHRL protects rights; IHL regulates war; ICL punishes those who violate both. Together, they form the “accountability pillar” of Global Public Law

Q: What is the principle of individual criminal responsibility in ICL?

A: Every person, regardless of position or status, can be held personally liable for international crimes; there is no immunity for heads of state or officials who order or enable atrocities

Q: What are the main historical roots of ICL?

A: Ancient rules on “just war,” the Versailles Treaty (after WW I), and the 1945 Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals, which established precedents for prosecuting leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity

Q: What is the legacy of the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals for ICL?

A: They created the first modern precedent for individual accountability in international law and helped codify the notion that “following orders” is no defense for atrocity crimes

Q: What was the significance of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)?

A: Created by the UN (1993) to prosecute war crimes in the Balkans; it revived international criminal prosecution after decades of inactivity and developed jurisprudence on sexual violence and command responsibility

Q: What was the mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)?

A: To prosecute those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide; it was the first tribunal to convict individuals for genocide and for rape as an act of genocide

Q: What is the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC)?

A: Established by the 1998 Rome Statute as a permanent court with jurisdiction over the four core crimes; it acts when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute

Q: Define the principle of complementarity in ICL.

A: The ICC does not replace national jurisdictions; it intervenes only when a state fails to investigate or prosecute serious international crimes

Q: What are the three main phases of an international criminal trial?

A:

Pre-trial – admissibility and evidence review

Trial – presentation of cases and verdict

Appeals – review and final judgment

Q: Who are the four main parties in ICL proceedings?

A: Prosecutor, Judges, Defense Counsel, and Accused — each acting independently within an adversarial system

Q: What does the Prosecutor do in ICL cases?

A: Investigates and brings charges against alleged perpetrators, seeks arrest warrants, presents evidence, and argues for conviction and sentencing

Q: Give an example of political controversy involving an ICC Prosecutor.

A: Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s attempt to indict Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir was criticized as politically motivated because it appeared aimed at toppling a sitting head of state

Q: Who are the non-judicial actors that influence ICL?

A: States, the UN, and NGOs that fund or support tribunals, often pursuing their own political or strategic interests

Q: What does “effectiveness as a matter of degree” mean in ICL evaluation?

A: That a court’s impact is relative; it is effective only to the extent that it independently achieves the four criteria without relying on non-judicial actors

Q: What is the core philosophical debate around ICL’s effectiveness?

A: Whether prosecution and punishment alone can achieve peace and justice, or whether broader political and social reforms are needed for lasting reconciliation

Q: What is the central purpose of international criminal procedure?

A: To ensure that international prosecutions for serious crimes — genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression — are conducted fairly, transparently, and consistently with due process, balancing accountability with protection of the accused’s rights

Q: Which legal systems influence international criminal procedure?

A: It draws on both civil law (inquisitorial) and common law (adversarial) traditions, producing a hybrid model unique to international courts

Q: What is the pre-trial phase designed to do?

A: To confirm that charges have a sufficient factual and legal basis, ensure the accused’s rights are respected, and decide on issues like admissibility, jurisdiction, and detention

Q: What is meant by the “adversarial system” in international trials?

A: A system where independent parties (prosecution and defense) argue their cases before impartial judges — emphasizing contest and equality of arms rather than cooperation

Q: Why is the international trial described as a “space of contestation”?

A: Because multiple actors — prosecutors, defense, states, NGOs — each push competing legal and political logics within a structured legal forum that is not designed for negotiation but for argument and adjudication

Q: What role does the Defense Counsel play?

A: To ensure fair representation of the accused, challenge prosecution evidence, and safeguard due-process rights throughout all phases of proceedings

Q: What are the core due-process rights of the accused in international law?

A:

• Presumption of innocence

• Right to counsel and adequate time to prepare a defense

• Right to be tried without undue delay

• Right to confront witnesses

• Right against self-incrimination

• Right to appeal

Q: What is the principle of “fair and expeditious trial”?

A: The accused must be tried without undue delay by an independent and impartial tribunal — codified in ICCPR Article 14(3)(c) and ECHR Article 6(1)

Q: What does “jurisdiction” mean in international criminal procedure?

A: The legal authority of a tribunal to hear a case — defined by subject matter (type of crime), temporal scope (time period), and territorial or personal jurisdiction (where or by whom the crime occurred)

Q: What are the two forms of jurisdictional triggers for the ICC?

A:

1⃣ Referral by a state party or the UN Security Council, and
2⃣ Proprio motu action — when the Prosecutor initiates an investigation with judicial authorization

Q: What is the standard of proof required for conviction in international tribunals?

A: Beyond reasonable doubt — the same high threshold used in most national criminal systems

Q: What happens if a case is found inadmissible during the pre-trial phase?

A: It is dismissed before proceeding to trial, often because another competent court is handling it, evidence is insufficient, or jurisdictional conditions are not met

Q: What is the function of the Appeals Chamber?

A: To review legal and procedural errors, correct miscarriages of justice, and ensure consistency and fairness in jurisprudence; its decisions are final

Q: What does the term “enforcement gap” refer to in international criminal procedure?

A: The lack of a global police or coercive mechanism to enforce arrest warrants, compel witness testimony, or ensure state cooperation — a core weakness of international criminal law

Q: Why is state cooperation essential for international prosecutions?

A: Because international courts lack their own enforcement arms; they depend on states for arrests, extradition, evidence collection, and sentence enforcement

Q: What procedural challenges arise from non-cooperation?

A: Cases may stall, witnesses may disappear, and indictments may remain unexecuted (e.g., non-arrest of heads of state or warlords). This undermines both efficiency and credibility

Q: What role do victims have in international criminal procedure?

A: Increasingly recognized as participants, not just witnesses — they may present views, request reparations, and influence sentencing (especially at the ICC)

Q: What is the principle of legality (nullum crimen sine lege)?

A: No one can be convicted for an act that was not criminal at the time it was committed; ensures fairness and prevents retroactive prosecution

Q: What are mitigating and aggravating factors in sentencing?

A:

- Mitigating: remorse, cooperation, minor role, humanitarian acts.

-Aggravating: leadership role, premeditation, cruelty, victim vulnerability. They affect sentence length but not guilt itself

Q: Why do international trials often last many years?

A: Complexity of evidence, multilingual proceedings, limited enforcement powers, and procedural safeguards all contribute to protracted timelines

Q: What is the purpose of witness protection measures?

A: To prevent intimidation or retaliation against witnesses and victims by providing anonymity, relocation, or confidentiality orders

Q: How do international courts balance retributive and restorative justice elements?

A: By combining punishment (retribution) with acknowledgment of victims’ suffering and potential reparations (restorative), though the system still prioritizes prosecution

Q: What are Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE)?

A: Codified guidelines used by each tribunal to regulate hearings, witness testimony, disclosure, admissibility, and protection of the accused’s rights

Q: What is the goal of harmonizing procedure across tribunals?

A: To promote consistency, predictability, and fairness while respecting variations among the ad hoc, hybrid, and permanent courts

Q: What principle links all four core crimes?

A: They are jus cogens crimes — violations of peremptory norms so serious that no state may lawfully authorize, condone, or excuse them

Q: Define the Crime of Aggression.

A: The planning, preparation, initiation, or execution by a person in a leadership position of an act of aggression — such as an invasion or attack — that constitutes a manifest violation of the UN Charter, threatening international peace and security

Q: What are examples of acts of aggression under the UN definition?

A: Invasion or attack by armed forces, bombardment, blockade of ports, or sending armed bands to carry out acts of force against another state

Q: What distinguishes the crime of aggression from ordinary warfare?

A: Aggression violates the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force except in self-defense or when authorized by the UN Security Council

Q: What is the Nuremberg Principle VI(a)?

A: It codifies “Crimes against Peace” — the early name for the crime of aggression — holding leaders criminally responsible for waging wars of aggression

Q: Define War Crimes.

A: Serious violations of the laws and customs of war (IHL), including murder, torture, hostage-taking, unlawful deportation, wanton destruction, and targeting civilians or protected persons