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Born from the ashes of two world wars, the concept of international criminal justice took nearly half a century to become anchored in institutions and legal concepts that are independent of specific conflicts. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, that for Rwanda, and the creation of the International Criminal Court, among others, bear witness to the real progress made during the 1990s. This issue of Politique étrangère offers a series of articles that shed light on these achievements and their limits.

The International Criminal Court is not universally recognized; it does not cover all of the legal issues presented by war crimes and genocide; nor is it the only form of justice imaginable in the face of such events. Today, the idea of international criminal justice is both increasingly evoked and increasingly contested – two good reasons to evaluate its outcomes, which are rare achievements from a time when the world seemed to have an irrepressible need for unity.

This issue of Politique étrangère also tackles other pressing international issues, such as the shifting the balance of power at multiple levels (China, Ethiopia…), or uncertainty in energy markets (notably through dramatically shifting oil prices).

In the wake of the November 13 terrorist attacks, it also provides a particularly timely article that analyses models for preventing radicalism and for deradicalization that are being put in place in three European countries.