Some Kind of Justice : The ICTY's Impact in Bosnia and Serbia

Through an in-depth case study, Some Kind of Justice offers fresh insights about two questions now the subject of robust debate: What goals can we plausibly assign to international criminal tribunals? What factors determine the impact of distant courts on societies that have seen vicious violence? The book offers a timely and original account of how the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) affected local communities, and the factors that shape its changing impact over time.

An internationally-renowned scholar in the fields of international and transitional justice, Diane Orentlicher provides an unparalleled account of an international tribunals impact in societies that have the greatest stake in its work. In Some Kind of Justice: The ICTYs Impact in Bosnia and Serbia, Orentlicher explores the evolving domestic impact of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which operated longer than any other international war crimes court. Drawing on hundreds of research interviews and a rich body of inter-disciplinary scholarship, Orentlicher provides a path-breaking account of how the Tribunal influenced domestic political developments, victims experience of justice, acknowledgement of wartime atrocities, and domestic war crimes prosecutions, as well as the dynamic factors behind its evolving influence in each of these spheres. Highlighting the perspectives of Bosnians and Serbians, Some Kind of Justice offers important and practical lessons about how international criminal courts can improve the delivery of justice.