Supporting the Punishment of Atrocity Crimes: A Broad Coalition among a Narrow Elite

Abstract

This article contributes a critical analysis of elites active in the field of atrocity crimes justice. It demonstrates how the support of punishment as the core technology to deal with perpetrators of these crimes is rooted in a broad coalition of elites that work with international criminal justice. However, the analysis also shows how this elite is populated by narrow group of well-educated, mostly male professionals who have been trained in and have most of their professional ties to the Global North. This can affect both the ways in which punishment is understood, interpreted and implemented in this field, including where its institutions and organisations direct their gaze and legal technologies. Ultimately, this can impact the way in which international criminal justice develops as well as the perceived legitimacy of its project to end impunity for atrocity crimes.

Keywords: sociology of law, elites, international criminal justice, atrocity crimes, punishment