Whose justice? The ICC ‘Africa problem’

Abstract

This article explores an understudied dimension of the International Criminal Court ‘Africa Problem’ – low contestedness. In a world of enduring cultural differences, norm contestation is inevitable. Yet, regular and institutionalized access to meaningful contestation for stakeholders (contestedness) can turn contestation into consensus instead of conflict. African stakeholders did not enjoy such access in the negotiation, diffusion and, most importantly, in the implementation of the Rome Statute. This helps explain the current normative crisis, which we reconstruct as a series of contestation moves. It also informs the path forward to resolve the crisis.