Description

Exploring Post-Resistance to State Criminality: Realpolitik Versus Ideology

Constraining and resisting crimes of states entails preemptive actions, ongoing efforts, and what the author terms “post-resistance,” which is defined as a post-response to state crimes. The goal is not only to end impunity, but also to resist future state crime. It reflects the ideology that undergirds the push to end impunity for heads of state and high-ranking officials as a preventative mechanism and first step in creating a broader ideological change in the international ethos. This change is embedded within a broader contradiction: the ideology behind post-resistance and subsequent developments within the international criminal justice systems and the historical and current realities of the practices of states. This article embraces Stanley Cohen’s dedication to honest intellectual inquiry and a commitment to social justice by exploring a new, overarching moral and ethical framework that supports the emerging push to end impunity for state crime.

humanism, ideology, international community, impunity, resistance, formal controls

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 36, No.3 (2009): 111-121