Infinite Justice

Implicitly Religious Responses to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Abstract

The article sets out from the idea that it might be interesting and helpful to look at emerging international judicial institutions in terms of implicit religion, which exemplify the human search for transcendent justice. This possibility is explored in relation to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The problems attending such institutions are reviewed, suggesting that they must inevitably fail to meet our expectations for ‘infinite justice’. Addressing aspects of justice such as restitution, reconciliation and forgiveness, other mechanisms are being developed which have a more explicitly religious character. The article concludes with a critical examination of general approaches to implicit religion in terms of its functional equivalence to conventionally defined religion.