Ruling through the International Criminal Court’s rules

legalized hegemony, sovereign (in)equality, and the Al Bashir Case

Authors

  • Luisa Giannini Figueira Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4365-8887
  • Roberto Vilchez Yamato Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
  • Claudia Alvarenga Marconi Departamento de Relações Internacionais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21530/ci.v14n1.2019.841

Abstract

This article investigates sovereign (in)equality as a phenomenon that is manifested in the
different levels of international institutions. The analysis is developed from the process against
Omar Al Bashir, Sudan’s President-in-Office, at the International Criminal Court. Considering
that norms and rules have a social role in the multiple relations existing between agents and
structures, that is, they transform relations in the international system, the article investigates the dispositions and principles present within the scope of the International Criminal Court
that authorize a discrimination between States. This distinction implies the imposition of
international rules for some actors and the maintenance of certain sovereign prerogatives
for others. More specifically, international criminal justice is characterized by selectivity
in judgments, as some countries are given certain authority over the regime. In this sense,
it is argued that the sovereign (in)equality that is present in international criminal law is
simultaneously a manifestation and condition of possibility for the hierarchy in the social,
and therefore institutional normative, and political architecture of the international system.
It is argued that the presence of this sovereign (in)equality can be identified at the different
levels of the institutions of international society, insofar as they influence one another.

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Author Biographies

Luisa Giannini Figueira, Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)

Doutoranda no Instituto de Relações Internacionais da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (IRI/PUC-Rio). Professora da graduação do IRI/PUC-Rio. Pesquisadora e Coordenadora da linha de pesquisa em tribunais penais internacionais do Núcleo de Estudos em Tribunais Internacionais (NETI-USP). Assistente de Pesquisa na GSUM. Assistente Editorial da Revista Contexto Internacional.

Roberto Vilchez Yamato, Instituto de Relações Internacionais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)

Professor do Instituto de Relações Internacionais da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (IRI/PUC-Rio). Doutorando em Direito, Birkbeck, University of London. Doutor em Relações Internacionais pelo IRI/PUC-Rio. Mestre em Ciências Sociais/Relações Internacionais pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. Mestre em Direitos Humanos pela London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Claudia Alvarenga Marconi, Departamento de Relações Internacionais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP)

Bacharel em Relações Internacionais pela Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (2005). Mestre (2009) e Doutora (2013) em Ciência Política pela USP. É professora do curso de Graduação em Relações Internacionais e Tutora do Programa de Educação Tutorial de Relações Internacionais (PET-RI), com a temática dos direitos humanos e violência, na Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP). 

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Published

2019-05-21

How to Cite

Giannini Figueira, L., Yamato, R. V., & Marconi, C. A. (2019). Ruling through the International Criminal Court’s rules: legalized hegemony, sovereign (in)equality, and the Al Bashir Case. Carta Internacional, 14(1), 177–201. https://doi.org/10.21530/ci.v14n1.2019.841

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2019): Carta Internacional

Section

Artigos

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