How Has the Icty Changed Our Perceptions of War

This article analyses how the ICTY has changed the way we talk about the war in the former Yugoslavia and about mass crimes . The often alleged Nuremberg legacy is misleading for assessing the ICTY's significance, both in historiographical and in political terms. First, it led to disproportionate expectations towards the Hague Tribunal . Those expectations were all the greater since the ICTY ended up being in charge of settling political and international responsibility, even though it does not address such responsibilities . The expectation that the ICTY also should lead to liberal democracy is also misleading and neglects the Yugoslav European legacy in terms of international law and social practices . This Yugoslav legacy can be observed at the municipal level, which is particularly significant to assess the ICTY effects and significance: criminals and victims are mainly defined at this level. The Hague tribunal has been able to move away from the Nuremberg model by paying attention to local and regional factors in a less centralized vision of the organization of mass crimes . International justice can become a norm and mediation among members of the same municipality . Thus, international law may be that of ordinary people, governing relations between the citizen and the foreigner, but also between citizens of the same country . International law can be a domestic standard and point of reference . This is what is called here the "justice of peoples

Perception · Political science · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies · Military History and Strategy · Psychology

• Overcoming History, Becoming European

  Niké Wentholt, Niké Maris Wentholt•2019

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