Theorizing empirical court research: The test case of the trial of Hissène Habré
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Theorizing empirical court research : The test case of the trial of Hissène Habré. / Weill, Sharon; Seelinger, Kim Thuy; Carlson, Kerstin Bree.
In: International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 103, No. 918, 2022, p. 1073-1081.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Theorizing empirical court research
T2 - The test case of the trial of Hissène Habré
AU - Weill, Sharon
AU - Seelinger, Kim Thuy
AU - Carlson, Kerstin Bree
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The purpose of this article is to advocate for new methods of studying international law. Hissène Habré, former President of Chad, was convicted by a hybrid tribunal in Dakar. Our book on this judicial process (The President on Trial: Prosecuting Hissène Habré, Oxford University Press, 2020) develops a novel empirical format of first-person testimonials, followed by expert analyses, to trace and contextualize the decades-long story of attempts to bring Habré to justice. The empirical materials collected in our book demonstrate that the Habré trial challenges a linear distribution of power from international (global) actors to local, demonstrating rather a series of horizontal relations between the local and international. Based on this research experience, the article lays out the method we developed. It facilitates an assessment of the legal and political impact of court decisions, routines and broader bureaucratic politics through which the practices of judging are constructed. Justice does not speak with one voice; it is made up of multiple actors with different professional interests and personal goals. It is also impacted by power dynamics and by the structure of the institution, including by institutional routine and legal bureaucracy.
AB - The purpose of this article is to advocate for new methods of studying international law. Hissène Habré, former President of Chad, was convicted by a hybrid tribunal in Dakar. Our book on this judicial process (The President on Trial: Prosecuting Hissène Habré, Oxford University Press, 2020) develops a novel empirical format of first-person testimonials, followed by expert analyses, to trace and contextualize the decades-long story of attempts to bring Habré to justice. The empirical materials collected in our book demonstrate that the Habré trial challenges a linear distribution of power from international (global) actors to local, demonstrating rather a series of horizontal relations between the local and international. Based on this research experience, the article lays out the method we developed. It facilitates an assessment of the legal and political impact of court decisions, routines and broader bureaucratic politics through which the practices of judging are constructed. Justice does not speak with one voice; it is made up of multiple actors with different professional interests and personal goals. It is also impacted by power dynamics and by the structure of the institution, including by institutional routine and legal bureaucracy.
KW - crimes against humanity
KW - empirical research
KW - hybrid tribunals
KW - international criminal justice
KW - socio-legal methods
U2 - 10.1017/S1816383122000182
DO - 10.1017/S1816383122000182
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85129003377
VL - 103
SP - 1073
EP - 1081
JO - International Review of the Red Cross
JF - International Review of the Red Cross
SN - 1816-3831
IS - 918
ER -
ID: 346532842