The International Criminal Justice Marketplace of Ideas

Abstract

Abstract The field of international criminal justice is supported and legitimized by a distinct marketplace of norms and ideas. Within this marketplace, stakeholders compete to define dominant norms, conceptual frames and the practical direction of international criminal justice. Building on the relational sociology of Bourdieu, this article examines how this competition plays out by studying the relational agenda-setting practices of central stakeholders. To this end, the analysis draws on an original dataset of annual reports produced by international criminal tribunals, academic articles and non-governmental organization reports published between 1994 and 2018. Employing Structural Topic Modelling, the article contributes a data-driven and empirically informed analysis of core developments and agenda-setting in the marketplace of ideas in international criminal justice. Zooming in on the topic of sexual violence which was placed on the agenda by NGOs in the early 2000s before becoming prevalent in the outputs of academics and international criminal tribunals, the article illustrates how normative agendas spearheaded by specific stakeholders can have broader effects in the field.