International Criminal Law vs State Sovereignty: Another Round?

This is a review of five recent works which deal with internationalcriminal law. By an analysis of those works, the essay querieswhether the relationship between international criminal lawand state sovereignty is always accurately conceptualized. Internationalcriminal lawyers often see sovereignty as the enemy of internationalcriminal law, though frequently failing to discuss in any depththe nature and malleability of sovereignty. Although internationalcriminal law does involve some challenges to sovereignty, italso needs, and in some ways empowers, that sovereignty too.The works under review tend to pay less attention to the substantiveaspects of international criminal law than its institutionalpart. This is unfortunate, as some of the most interesting interactionsbetween international criminal law and sovereignty occur atthis level. The essay finishes with some broader reflectionson how the works under review conceptualize the internationallegal order, regrets the absence at times of engagement withrelevant constructivist scholarship but notes that the answerto the question of the precise relationship between internationalcriminal law and sovereignty is unlikely to be agreed upon soon.