Restoring International Justice: Exposing the Limitations of Retributive Justice and Proposing a Restorative Dimension

This dissertation exposes the limitation of international retributive justice in realizing interstate reconciliation and proposes including a restorative dimension into the existing international criminal justice system. I maintain that justice within the international criminal system is conceptualized purely on a punitive notion influenced by the liberal institutionalist understanding of the state and the international system. Hence, the current retributive structure does not engage rival stakeholders, who experience interstate wars, in the process of international justice, as it is centered on upholding international law and punishing states that violate the law. To this end, the current process is not equipped to restore interstate broken relations and falls short from resolving rival narratives, as it is not established to do so in the first place. I utilize the English School and its conception of international society that understands states’ interactions in a relational form, which allows for a restorative dimension of justice. I propose incorporating a process that is focused on restoring broken relations between rival stakeholders, which would eventually contribute to interstate relations restoration. Understanding the state as a collection of individuals illustrates the need for discursive spaces for rival stakeholders to encounter, exchange their experiences, and address rival narratives. To this end, the process of international restorative justice would contribute to the maintenance of international order, as through discourse, it would provide the “human infrastructure” of a renewed international society that is bounded by shared norms. This research proposes a more holistic approach to international criminal justice which includes both retributive and restorative measures. This would contribute to the maintenance of international order as two critical ends would be realized: the upholding of international law and the pursuit of interstate relations restoration