Politics, anti-politics, international justice: Language and power in the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Review of International Studies

Volumn 32, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 587-602

  Kelsall, Tim ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33750328354     PISSN: 02602105     EISSN: 14699044     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0260210506007170     Document Type: Review

References (91)

1. John M. Conley and William O'Barr, Just Words: Law, Language, and Power (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998), p. 2.
2. In 2003-4 the SCSL had a budget of $34 million, in 2004-5, $29.9 m, and in 2005-6, $25.5 m. In each of the latter two years, staffing costs amounted to approximately $16 m. Special Court for Sierra Leone Budget, 2005-2006: 〈http://www.sc-sl.org/Documents/budget2005-2006. pdf〉.
3. See for example, Jim George, Discourse of Global Politics: A critical (re)introduction to International Relations (Boulder, CO: Lynn Rienner, 1994), esp. ch. 8.
4. See for example Ankie Hoogvelt, Globalisation and the Postcolonial World: The New Political Economy of Development (London: Macmillan, 1997).
5. David Held, Anthony McGrew, et al., Global Transformations: Politics, Economics and Culture (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999).
6. See among others Jean-Francois Bayart, Stephen Ellis, et al. (eds.), The Criminalization of the State in Africa (Oxford: James Currey, 1999);
7. Jean-Francois Bayart, 'Africa in the World: A History of Extraversion', African Affairs, 99:395 (1999), pp. 217-68;
8. William Reno, Warlord Politics and African States (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000);
9. Christopher Clapham, Africa and the International System (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996);
10. Mark Duffield, Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development and Security (Zed Books, 2001).
11. Mary Kaldor, New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001).
12. Mark Duffield, Global Governance.
13. Bayart et al., The Criminalization of the State;
14. Reno, Warlord Politics;
15. Thomas Callaghy, Ron Kassimir, et al. (eds.), Intervention and Transnationalism in Africa: Global-local Networks of Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001);
16. Duffield, Global Governance;
17. Kaldor, New and Old Wars.
18. Duffield, Global Governance;
19. Alex J. Bellamy, Paul Williams and Stuart Griffin, Understanding Peacekeeping (Cambridge, Polity Press, 2004).
20. Cited in Kaldor, New and Old Wars, p. 153.
21. Stanley Cohen, 'Crime and Politics: Spot the Difference', British Journal of Sociology, 47:1 (1996), pp. 1-21.
22. See P. Collier and A. Hoeffler 'On the Economic Causes of Civil War', Oxford Economic Papers, 50 (1998), pp. 563-73
23. and for a critique, C. Cramer, 'Homo Economicus Goes to War: Methodological Individualism, Rational Choice and the Political Economy of War', World Development, 30:11 (2002), pp. 1845-64.
24. Michel Foucault, Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, ed. Colin Gordon (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), p. 133.
25. Alan Hunt and Gary Wickham, Foucault and Law: Towards a Sociology of Law as Governance (London: Pluto Press, 1994), p. 42. A future article will address the ways in which magical and religious narratives are screened out of the courtroom.
26. James Ferguson, The Anti-Politics Machine: 'Development', Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
27. Cf. Duffield, Global Governance;
28. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire (Cambridge: MA, Harvard University Press, 2001).
29. The Special Court for Sierra Leone, promotional booklet, March 2003, p 3.
30. R. Fanthorpe (2001) 'Neither citizen nor subject? "Lumpen" agency and the legacy of native administration in Sierra Leone', African Affairs, 100:400, pp. 363-86.
31. M. Ferme (2001) The Underneath of Things: Violence, History and the Everyday in Sierra Leone (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press).
32. J. Kandeh (2002) 'Subaltern Terror in Sierra Leone', in T. Zack-Williams, D. Frost and A. Thomson, Africa in Crisis: New Challenges and Possibilities (London: Pluto Press);.
33. P. Richards (1996) Fighting for the Rainforest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone (Oxford: IAI, J. Currey);
34. R. Shaw (2002) Memories of the Slave Trade (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2002);
35. William Reno, Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995);
36. John Hirsch, Sierra Leone: Diamonds and the Struggle for Democracy (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2001).
37. The most detailed account is to be found in Witness to Truth: Report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, vol. 2 (available online at 〈www.trcsierraleone.org〉).
38. Hirsch, Diamonds and the Struggle for Democracy, pp. 113-34. Though other versions suggest he was almost lynched before being quickly spirited to a local guest house (Paul Richards, pers. comm.).
39. The Special Court for Sierra Leone, promotional booklet, March 2003, p. 8.
40. The Special Court for Sierra Leone, promotional booklet, Cited ibid., p. 2.
41. The war was finally declared at an end in January 2002, following Guinean military operations, the intervention of British troops and an expanded UN presence, which created a context in which demobilisation and disarmament could proceed.
42. For a useful review of the debates surrounding the establishment of the Special Court, see Beth K. Dougherty, 'Right-Sizing International Criminal Justice: The Hybrid Experiment at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.' International Affairs (April 2004). pp. 311-28
43. For a critical early reading, see Lansana Gberie, 'Briefing: the Special Court of Sierra Leone', African Affairs, 102:409 (2003), pp. 637-49.
44. The Special Court for Sierra Leone: Basic facts. Available at 〈http://www.sc-sl.org/ basicfactspamphlet09.pdf〉. It should be noted that by the time of the indictments the RUF was already a spent force. However, this was not the case in 2000 when Kabbah appealed to the UN for a Court. At the time of indictments, Sam Hinga Norman and Johnny Paul Koroma commanded popular followings in the CDF and Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces respectively. To some extent their arrests cut off the heads of two potentially lawless and violent organisations.
45. Four indictees alleged to be at the centre of the conflict escaped the court's grasp: Foday Sankoh, leader of the RUF who died in custody; Field Commander Sam Bockarie, killed in Liberia, allegedly on the instructions of Charles Taylor; Johnny Paul Koroma, one-time President and leader of the AFRC, now missing; and Charles Taylor, at the time of writing exiled in Nigeria.
46. The Prosecutor of the Special Court v. Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon, Augustine Gbao, case no: SCSL-04-15-T, 5 July, pp. 20, 19-21.
47. Sesay et al., 5 July.
48. The Prosecutor of the Special Court v. Sam Hinga Norman, Moinina Fofana, Allieu Kondewa, case no: SCSL-04-14-PT, 3 June, pp. 25, 11-12.
49. Ibid., pp. 16, 11-12.
50. Ibid., pp. 18, 12-14.
51. Ibid., pp. 30, 22-5.
52. John M. Conley and William O'Barr, Just Words: Law, Language, and Power (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998), p. 2.
53. Paul Rabinow, 'Introduction', in The Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault's Thought (London: Penguin, 1994), pp. 3-29.
54. Norman et al., 3 June, pp. 7, 26-8.
55. Ibid., pp. 12, 23-5.
56. Ibid., pp. 12, 29-30.
57. Ibid., pp. 13, 4-5.
58. Ibid., pp. 9, 11-13. Here Crane is invoking Robert Jackson's opening statement at Nuremburg.
59. Interview with David Crane, 15 June 2004.
60. Sesay et al., 5 July, pp. 21-2, 36-7, 1-3.
61. Ibid., pp. 5, 1-9.
62. Ibid., pp. 19, 4.
63. Ibid., 6 July, pp. 8, 2-3.
64. Rules of Procedure and Evidence - Special Court for Sierra Leone, p. 33. Available at 〈http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl-procedure.html〉.
65. Dougherty, 'Right-Sizing International Justice'.
66. Interview with David Crane, 15 June 2004. A historical precedent is to be found in the political nature of the charges in the Nuremburg trials - see Richard Overy, 'The Nuremburg trials: international law in the making', in Philippe Sands, From Nuremburg to The Hague: The Future of International Criminal Justice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 1-29.
67. I owe this point to Paul Richards, personal communication.
68. See Dougherty, 'Right-Sizing International Criminal Justice.
69. Informal discussions with Court officials, April-August 2004.
70. For a critical insider's view of the Court, see James Cockayne, 'The Fraying Shoestring: Rethinking Hybrid War Crimes Tribunals' Mimeo, NYU, 2004.
71. Sesay et al., 6 July, pp. 7, 24-5.
72. Ibid., pp. 8-9, 12-37, 1-7.
73. His tactic echoed a strategy pursued by Slobodan Milosovic at the ICTY.
74. Lansana Fofana, 'Sierra Leone: war crimes trials are opening old wounds', Exodus Online, 19 January 2005 (available at 〈http://www.exodusnews.com/ worldnews/world059.htm〉).
75. Lansana Fofana, 'Exodus Online, Ibid., 15 June, pp. 5, 1-6.
76. I thank Mariane Ferme for this point.
77. Author's notes, 15 June.
78. Author's notes, 16 June. Note that one would be hard pushed to call the APC regime legitimate.
79. Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life (Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: California University Press, 1984), p. 37.
80. de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, p. 54. A similar tactic was evident in some of the complaints made by defendants about their detention conditions and in their day to day interactions with prison guards.
81. Norman et al., 17 June, pp. 26, 30-7; pp. 27, 1-8.
82. Norman Ibid., pp. 27, 18-19.
83. Norman et al., 16 June, pp. 34, 21-3.
84. Norman Ibid., pp. 29, 3-7.
85. Norman Ibid., pp. 30, 5-11.
86. Norman Ibid., pp. 31, 17-19.
87. Though these sometimes slipped out, making the witnesses fairly easily identifiable to anyone familiar with their home areas.
88. I thank Martha Carey for alerting me to this.
89. Hunt and Wickham, Foucault and Law, p. 42.
90. Hunt and Wickham, Foucault and Law, p. 42.
91. Ibid.