Art, Aesthetics and International Justice

This book demonstrates that art is implicit in the process of administration of international justice. The diverse nature of recent global threats as well as an overwhelming pull towards isolationism and nationalism challenge the dominant deterrence paradigm of international governance created in the aftermath of the Second World War. An alternative model is to focus on cooperation, and not deterrence, as a guiding operational principle. This volume focuses on the theoretical component linking justice with aesthetics as well as on the practical manifestation of such connection evident, inter alia, in the rhetoric of international courts, their architectural design and their commemorative practices expressed by the practice of symbolic reparations adopted by some of the courts. The underlying premise of the book is that international justice requires new vocabulary and new approaches, which can be derived from the study of aesthetics. It is held that exploring the aesthetical dimension of international justice contributes to the discussion on the foundations of its authority and the grounds for compliance with it. The work engages deeply with the theory of aesthetics developed by Immanuel Kant and Abhinavagupta, a Kashmiri critic, philosopher and scholar writing in the early eleventh century. The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of Legal Philosophy, International Criminal Justice and International Law and International Relations.

Marina Aksenova is Associate Professor of International Criminal Law at IE University in Madrid and founder of Art and International Justice Initiative. She worked at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and as a legal associate in White and Case LLP. As part of her academic journey, she held postdoctoral research positions at the Centre of Excellence for International Courts at the University of Copenhagen, the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Central European University in Budapest, and the University of Florence. Marina's research lies at the intersection of deep doctrinal engagement with international law and creativity. Marina seeks to innovate without losing touch with the core methodological and philosophical assumptions underlying the field of international justice. Her first book Complicity in International Criminal Law (Hart, 2016) won Paul Guggenheim award at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

1. Introduction 2. Philosophical foundations of universality and the role of aesthetics in building international justice 2.0 3. Re-thinking the mode of expression in international justice 4. International justice as a ritual: Anthropological and sociological accounts 5. The role of art and aesthetics in the practice of symbolic and creative reparations at the ICC and IACtHR 6. Observe - build - play - repeat: The new method of international justice 2.0