The international criminal court: between sovereignty and the internationalized fight against impunity

This chapter assesses the effect of various contestations on the norms of legal accountability and anti-impunity. Bower studies the contestation of the ICC’s authority. He finds the ICC to be driven by normative tensions inherent in the international justice regime. He argues that the anti-impunity norm was never fully consolidated but has remained aspirational. Still, the observable attacks on the Court, notably the campaign by African states against the ICC, have not resulted in a substantial value change or a legal validity decline but rather a narrowing of the scope of its application. This may be seen as minor change in the legal status of the norm which does not destroy the legally protected value of accountability.