The Concept of the Civilian: Legal Recognition, Adjudication and the Trials of International Criminal Justice

Claire Garbett

Routledge, Jan 9, 2015 - Law - 202 pages

The Concept of the Civilian: Legal Recognition, Adjudication and the Trials of International Criminal Justice offers a critical account of the legal shaping of civilian identities by the processes of international criminal justice. It draws on a detailed case-study of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to explore two key issues central to these justice processes: first, how to understand civilians as a social and legal category of persons and second, how legal practices shape victims’ identities and redress in relation to these persons.

Integrating socio-legal concepts and methodologies with insights from transitional justice scholarship, Claire Garbett traces the historical emergence of the concept of the civilian, and critically examines how the different stages of legal proceedings produce its conceptual form in distinction from that of combatants. This book shows that the very notions of civilian, protection and redress that underpin current practices of international criminal justice continue to evoke both definitional difficulties and analytic contestation.

Using a unique interdisciplinary approach, the author provides a critical analysis of the relationship between mechanisms of transitional justice and civilians that will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of transitional justice, sociology, law, politics and human rights.

Contents

• war law and postconflict justice: 1
• the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: 28
• 3 Laws of protection? The historical emergence of the concept of the civilian: 52
• unlawful victimization its victims and their visibility at the ICTY: 73
• legal recognition participation and trial proceedings: 97
• 6 Recognizing all? The collective victimization of a civilian population: 118
• civilian subjects legal practices and progressive futures: 148
• References: 165
• Index: 177

About the author

Claire Garbett is a Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Balkan Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has published in the International Journal of Law in Context, Human Rights Law Review, Contemporary Justice Review and Human Rights Review. She holds a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Concept of the Civilian: Legal Recognition, Adjudication and the Trials of International Criminal Justice; Transitional justice
• Author: Claire Garbett
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Routledge, 2015
• ISBN: 1136006249, 9781136006241
• Length: 202 pages
• Subjects: Law / Criminal Law / General; Law / General; Law / International; Social Science / Criminology; Social Science / Violence in Society