Illegitimate Justice

How Locals Talk About International Criminal Courts

Izabela Steflja

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Law
• eBook ISBN:
  9780228027300
• Subtopic: Genocide & War Crimes
• Index: Law

International criminal courts exist to help countries and communities move forward after atrocities and to bring those accused of war crimes to justice. Yet local residents and witnesses often perceive them to lack political legitimacy.

Drawn from extensive primary research in Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kenya, Illegitimate Justice challenges the view that as long as international courts are striving for the concept of justice, establishing legal precedents, and prosecuting war criminals, they are fulfilling their purpose. Through interviews with individuals in the fields of education, law, religion, politics, the media, and civil society, Izabela Steflja listens to the people affected by conflict and by the justice processes meant to repair harm. She reveals how international courts have failed local communities through lack of accountability – even, at times, active disregard. The stories local people tell about international courts differ radically from those the international community tells itself about justice and reconciliation.

Combining field research with an original comparative narrative model, Illegitimate Justice will be invaluable reading for people active in post-conflict communities and work, as well as for legal, political, and human rights students and scholars.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Half-Title Page 1
• Introduction: The Local Constituents of International Criminal Justice
• 1 Fieldwork and Researcher Positionality in Post-Conflict Settings
• 2 “To break up with nationalism is a very difficult thing”: BiH, Serbia, and the ICTY
• 3 Narratives About the ICTY in BiH and Serbia: Predetermination, Injustice, and Display of Power
• 4 “The war was like a volcano – when it splashes it goes everywhere”: Rwanda and the ICTR
• 5 Narratives About the ICTR in Rwanda: Detachment, Otherness, and Costly Charades
• 6 The Political Meanings of International Criminal Justice: Kenya, Uganda, Croatia
• Conclusion: The Local Legacies of International Criminal Justice
• Notes
• Index