The fragility and potential of the Rome Statute system: an empirical study of international and domestic trial justice paths in the situation of Uganda

Gawronski, MEJ

Oxford Thesis Collection

Thesis

The fragility and potential of the Rome Statute system: an empirical study of international and domestic trial justice paths in the situation of Uganda

Abstract:: Since 1998 the Rome Statute system and the International Criminal Court have become the most prominent international institutional set-up created to address the question of formal accountability for international crimes. While the ICC has been the subject of in-depth studies and critiques, a holistic analysis of the Rome Statute system’s limitations and potential is still missing. In this thesis I turn this overarching question into a question viable for an empirical analysis of the system of Rome: What factors affect the success or failure of ICC-led and state-led trial justice paths in the context of the Rome Statute system? I address this question by viewing the system of Rome as an operational system designed to produce courtroom-based justice through the actions of the ICC and state actors on the basis of the roadmap of the Rome Statute. From this definitional standpoint, I analyse what factors hinder or determine the ICC and state actors’ ability to bring trials to fruition in practice and thus make them effective vehicles of trial justice. I conduct this analysis ethnograpically, analysing the case study of Uganda, where an international and a domestic trial justice route have been pursued concomitantly by the ICC and state institutions. Through the analysis of this case study, I demonstrate that factors related to the institutional nature of and rapport between the ICC, domestic courts and state actors, to the day-to-day practice of trial justice and to the Rome Statute’s blueprint for action, all impact the potential for success of ICC and state-led prosecutorial paths. By extension I demonstrate that systemic fragility and potential can be found in the system’s architectural institutional framework, in the practice of trial justice and in the Rome Statute’s ability to function as a ‘best practice’ model for the ICC and domestic courts alike. This thesis is based on extensive fieldwork conducted at the ICC and in Uganda.

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APA Style

Gawronski, M. E. J. (2019). The fragility and potential of the Rome Statute system: an empirical study of international and domestic trial justice paths in the situation of Uganda [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.

MLA Style

Gawronski, MEJ. The Fragility and Potential of the Rome Statute System: an Empirical Study of International and Domestic Trial Justice Paths in the Situation of Uganda. 2019. University of Oxford, PhD thesis.

Chicago Style

Gawronski, MEJ. 2019. “The Fragility and Potential of the Rome Statute System: an Empirical Study of International and Domestic Trial Justice Paths in the Situation of Uganda.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford.
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