Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces the conflict in Syria, the various impediments to justice, and the book’s broad themes, including the observation that the paralysis in the U.N. Security Council has spurred a form of forced creativity that has generated a number of novel proposals for how to bring justice to Syria. In addition to providing an overview of the text, this introduction also presents the matrix of accountability that will structure the core of the book. This matrix is organized along two axes: the first (x) is premised on the distinction between criminal and civil liability; the second (y) compares the types of justice institutions and legal authorities that are available to bring individual perpetrators and even Syria as a sovereign state to justice. The remainder of the book explores different routes to accountability through this matrix and the various advantages presented by, and the challenges encumbering, the various justice options when it comes to the situation in Syria.