Study title

Studying various aspects of the relationship between peacemaking and international law, this project used a wide range of data. For the first aspect, which was to examine assumptions underpinning claims about the contribution of international legal mechanisms towards peacemaking, it looked at official documents, press statements, promotional material and academic literature on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court and that of international commissions of inquiry. It then relied on earlier empirical research, by other researchers and this researcher, to consider the assumptions in light of the empirical evidence. For the second part of the research, which examined the conceptualisation of the relationship between peace and justice in the context of the international law on self-determination, the project obtained thousands of photographs of relevant material in the Sudan Archive at Durham and the National Archives at Kew. For the more contemporary aspect of the study, it collaborated with area experts. For the third aspect of the project, namely shedding light on changing meanings of peace, it collaborated with a team of Sudan and South Sudan experts, to produce a multiperspectival approach on understandings of peace and peacemaking.Moral philosophers and international lawyers have been working on identifying and developing 'norms' that govern the transition from conflict to peace generally and peace negotiations particularly. It has been argued, for instance, that international law prohibits amnesties for international crimes, forbids engaging people accused of such crimes in peace talks, and outlaws certain power-sharing agreements. Vice versa, it has been suggested that international law determines that some groups must participate in peace talks, that issues such as gender equality must be regulated by a peace agreement and that topics...