After Genocide

This comprehensive examination of the complex, politicized world of international criminal justice reviews the serious shortcomings of a system that rarely accomplishes its goal of bringing mass murderers to justice. The author, an international lawyer who has worked at The Hague and in the Balkans and is the son of a Holocaust refugee, focuses on several hot spots, including:

• The former Yugoslavia, where a one-billion-dollar investment has spectacularly backfired.
• Sierra Leone, where the same wartime factions that the international community tried to dismantle remain, and in some quarters are stronger than ever.
• Rwanda, where the post-conflict tribunal was met with dismay by all sectors of society and receives begrudging cooperation from the Rwandan government.
• Sudan and Uganda, where the nascent International Criminal Court has inexplicably replicated many of the same problems that plague the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda.

Are other options available to provide the good of justice without the potentially devastating side effects? Smith illustrates the viability of a counterintuitive "solution" to dealing with genocide and other mass crimes: to entrust the challenging, potentially destabilizing work of war-crimes justice to the very states affected by the crimes. This well-researched and forcefully argued book is indispensable reading for voters, policymakers, and citizens as well as lawyers, academics, and human rights activists who hope that "never again" can be more than a platitude.