Louise Chappell. The Politics of Gender Justice at the International Criminal Court: Legacies and Legitimacy

Abstract

The book under review provides a unique analysis of gender justice in international criminal law. The author, Louise Chappell, professor in social sciences and international studies at the University of New South Wales, provides a meticulous and theoretically well-informed historical investigation of the implementation of gender justice (and its shortcomings) by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and what impact this might have for the future of the Court. Chappell’s book seeks to answer the following questions: ‘Why has it been so difficult to implement some substantive gender justice rules and not others?’ and ‘What are the consequences of these outcomes for the Court and the international gender justice actors?’ (at 2). In answering these questions, the author takes a complex approach. In response to the first question, she draws on gender legacies of international law: traditional conceptions of gender roles and norms, which have, in Chappell’s view, decisively shaped the path of gender justice. As Chappell argues through her book, the implementation of gender justice rules by the ICC has only been partially successful. In her view, and this constitutes the answer to her second main question, this partial success substantially affects the Court’s legitimacy.