The International Criminal Court at a Crossroads: Institutional Design, Enforcement Deficits, and the Politics of International Accountability

Arjit Kandalai

doi:10.70528/IJLRP.v7.i7.2329

The International Criminal Court at a Crossroads: Institutional Design, Enforcement Deficits, and the Politics of International Accountability

Author(s)	Arjit Kandalai
Country	United States
Abstract	This article examines the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an institution whose principal vulnerability is structural rather than doctrinal. Drawing on the Rome Statute, the Court’s case law, and the institutional record of the past two decades, the analysis argues that the ICC was designed with adjudicative authority but without enforcement capacity, and that this asymmetry now conditions every dimension of its performance. The article traces the Court’s lineage from the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals through the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to the Rome Conference of 1998, and reconstructs the negotiated compromises—complementarity, consent-based jurisdiction, and Security Council involvement—that continue to shape its operation. A survey of landmark prosecutions from Lubanga to Al Hassan demonstrates both the Court’s doctrinal contributions and a recurring pattern of evidentiary fragility, protracted proceedings, and collapsed cases. The analysis then examines three convergent pressures: the enforcement deficit produced by dependence on state cooperation, exemplified by the sustained failure to execute the warrants against Omar al-Bashir; escalating great-power opposition, culminating in two successive United States sanctions regimes directed at Court personnel; and a legitimacy crisis compounded by withdrawal announcements from four continents and, in July 2026, the first removal of a sitting Prosecutor in the Court’s history. The article contends that the most consequential reforms are those achievable without amending the Rome Statute: graduated compliance mechanisms tied to the Assembly of States Parties, published case-selection criteria, regionalized cooperation agreements, assessed rather than voluntary reparations financing, and strengthened internal governance and oversight. Proposals to extend jurisdiction to ecocide and cyber operations are assessed as normatively attractive but strategically premature given the Court’s present capacity constraints. The article concludes that the ICC remains indispensable to the international legal order precisely because no substitute exists, and that its survival depends less on expanding its mandate than on repairing the machinery through which its existing mandate is exercised.
Keywords	International Criminal Court; Rome Statute; complementarity; state cooperation; international criminal law; enforcement; institutional legitimacy; crimes against humanity; ecocide; transitional justice
Field	Sociology > Administration / Law / Management
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 7, July 2026
Published On	2026-07-31
DOI	https://doi.org/10.70528/IJLRP.v7.i7.2329

View / Download PDF File

About IJLRP Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijlrp.com

International Journal of Leading Research Publication

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Monthly Scholarly International Journal

The International Criminal Court at a Crossroads: Institutional Design, Enforcement Deficits, and the Politics of International Accountability

Share this