Diversification and Fragmentation of International Criminal Law

This volume is the first in a new series of Studies on the Frontiers of International Law. The term 'frontier' is traditionally associated with proximity to a boundary or a demarcation line. But it is also a connecting point, i.e., a passage or channel between spaces that are usually considered as separate entities. The Series aims to explore the visible and imaginary boundaries of scholarship in International Law. It is designed to test the existing table of contents, vocabulary and limits of 'Public International Law', to investigate lines and linkages between 'centre' and 'periphery', and to re-map or re-think some of its conceptual boundaries.

The current volume is written in this spirit. It deals with the tension between unity and diversification which has gained a central place in the debate under the label of 'fragmentation'. It explores the meaning, articulation and risks of this phenomenon in a specific area: International Criminal Justice. It brings together established and fresh voices who analyse different sites and contestations of this concept, as well as its context and specific manifestations in the interpretation and application of International Criminal Law. The volume thereby connects discourse on 'fragmentation' with broader inquiry on the merits and discontents of legal pluralism in 'Public International Law'.

About the Author: Larissa van den Herik is a Professor of Public International Law and Editor in Chief of the Leiden Journal of International Law. She has previously worked at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where she defended her PhD thesis on The Contribution of the Rwanda Tribunal to the Development of International Law (Martinus Nijhoff) in 2005. She was awarded the Bulthuis Van Oosternieland Prize for this academic work. She is the author of several articles and annotations in the field of public international law, international criminal law and the law on peace and security, as well as co-editor of collections of essays in the field of international criminal law. She coordinates the Marie Curie Research Course and Top Summer School on International Criminal Law (together with Dr. Carsten Stahn).

Carsten Stahn is Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice and Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Studies. He has previously worked as Legal Officer in Chambers of the International Criminal Court (2003-2007) and as Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (2000-2003). He obtained his PhD degree (summa cum laude) from Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. He holds LL.M. degrees from New York University and Cologne/Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). He is author of The Law and Practice of International Territorial Administration: Versailles to Iraq and Beyond (Cambridge University Press, 2008/2010) which received the Ciardi Prize 2009 of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War. He has published numerous articles on international criminal law and transitional justice, and edited several collections of essays in the field. He is Senior ICC editor of the Leiden Journal of International Law, Executive Editor of the Criminal Law Forum and Correspondent of the Netherlands International Law Review. His work has been cited in the jurisprudence of the ICC, the ICJ and the European Court of Human Rights.