International Courts and Mass Atrocity

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 1-28

3. Transitional Justice as a Means of Deliberating the Past

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 29-52

4. The Narrative of the Homeland War in Croatia

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 53-82

5. Understandings of Law in Croatia

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 83-113

6. Serbs in the Eyes of Croats

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 115-140

7. War Veterans in Croatia

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 141-164

8. An Atmosphere of Pessimism and Distrust: Comparison of Results

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 165-182

9. Bosnia in the Croatian War Narrative: A Missed Expressivist Opportunity?

   • Ivor Sokolić

   Pages 183-203

10. Conclusion

    • Ivor Sokolić

    Pages 205-226

11. Back Matter

    Pages 227-229

    PDF

The extra-legal effects of international and domestic war crimes trials continue to puzzle researchers and practitioners. In the former Yugoslav states, the legacy of conflict and issues of transitional justice remains central in politics, society and culture. This book provides a new theoretical and methodological approach to one of these puzzles: why universal human rights norms become distorted or undermined when they reach local publics. It investigates the social and cultural contexts that transitional justice processes take place in by looking at how emotional everyday narratives can hamper the spread of norms in society. In Croatia, these narratives define how the public understands the rule of law, history and minority rights. 

• transitional justice
• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
• post-conflict
• Croatia
• everyday politics
• narratives of war
• war crimes trials
• nationalism
• human rights norms
• southeastern Europe

“This book is a must-read for all scholars, as well as practitioners, who are trying to understand the difficult process of coming to terms with the past and all the complexities of this process in which an individual needs to first learn about, discuss, interpret and understand the traumatic past in order to (potentially) come to terms with it.” (Tamara Banjeglav, Southeastern Europe, Vol. 44 (2), 2020)



“International Courts and Mass Atrocity provides an in-depth analysis of the transitional justice process in Croatia. Sokolić not only works through the fault lines of the ICTY regarding the case of Croatia, but also sheds light on an issue that the international criminal justice system as a whole often neglects: namely, the strength of the local in creating and maintaining war narratives. The book is therefore a must-read for transitional justice scholars and practitioners both in the Balkans and beyond.” (Ebru Demir, LSE Review of Books, blogs.lse.ac.uk,May 08, 2019) “International institutions tried to introduce standards and values of universal human rights into post-conflict environments, and it often looks like they have failed. Why? These concepts enter into spaces that are already populated: by narratives and myths, values and interests, emotions and memories. Sokolić breaks new ground in understanding how societies approach the past in this study, using focus groups and innovative analysis to show how different social groups in Croatia interpret justice and war.” (Eric Gordy, Professor of Political and Cultural Sociology, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK)

“Ivor Sokolić provides a persuasive account of constraints at the everyday level that distort universal norms of transitional justice in Croatia. This study extends our understanding of challenges in post-conflict recovery of this understudied case in the Balkans. With its combination of original theory building and innovative qualitative analysis, it will be of interest to all scholars puzzled by the question why international and domestic war crimes trials fail to promote justice and reconciliation.” (Denisa Kostovicova, Associate Professor in Global Politics, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)

“This timely and engaging study about the impact of war crimes trials in Croatia deftly portrays how key segments of Croatian society perceive the legacy of the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995) and interethnic relations. Sokolic’s bottom-up approach provides crucial insights into nation-building narratives, interpretations of the recent past, attitudes towards transitional justice mechanisms and the potential for reconciliation in post-conflict societies.” (Vjeran Pavlaković, Associate Professor, University of Rijeka, Croatia)

• Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom

  Ivor Sokolić

Ivor Sokolić is Research Officer in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. 

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