1. Introduction 2. The Development and Aims of the International Criminal Court 3. Tensions between Ideal and Reality in the Pursuit of Justice 4. Late Modernity, Social Control and the ICC 5. The Role of Actors in Shaping the ICC 6. The Trial as a Site of Contest: The DRC and Thomas Lubanga 7. The ICC as a Tool 8. Conclusion: The Resilience of the ICC and International Criminal Justice in Late Modernity

Nerida Chazal is a Lecturer in Criminology at Flinders University, Australia. Her research examines the aims and functioning of international criminal justice in a complex and increasingly global world. Nerida has previously worked as a Research Fellow with the Centre for Crime Policy and Research at Flinders University. She is co-editor (with W. De Lint and M. Marmo) of Criminal Justice in International Society (Routledge, 2014), and co-author (with M. Marmo) of Transnational Crime and Criminal Justice (Sage, 2016).

At its genesis the International Criminal Court was expected to help prevent atrocities from arising or escalating by ending the impunity of leaders and administering punishment for the commission of international crimes. More than a decade later, the ICC's ability to achieve these broad aims has been questioned as the ICC has concluded only two of twenty cases and has reached only one guilty verdict. This book explores the gaps and contradictions that are increasingly defining the ICC, analyzing the Court from a criminological standpoint, and contextualizing the aims and functions of the ICC within understandings of the role of crime and criminalization in an increasingly global world.