Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals

Gary Jonathan Bass, of Princeton University, offers a vigorous, liberal endorsement of war-crimes trials at a time when they're coming under close scrutiny in the aftermath of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Rwanda. This book--Bass's first--takes its title from U.S. prosecutor Robert Jackson's opening statement at the Nuremberg trials, following World War II: "That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury, stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason." Nuremberg is, of course, widely regarded as a glowing success; other war-crimes tribunals fall far short of its mark. A strength of this book is Bass's willingness to deal with these realities. His defense of war-crimes trials doesn't rest on head-in-the-sky notions about international justice. He argues, simply, that they're in the interest of democratic, peace-loving nations: "It is not that these complicated and often muddled trials are too noble to question; it is that the other options could be worse."

For an advocate, Bass is refreshingly honest: "Do war crimes tribunals work? The only serious answer is: compared to what? No, war crimes trials do not work particularly well. But they have clear potential to work, and to work much better than anything else diplomats have come up with at the end of a war." Apathy and vengeance, which Bass considers the two alternatives to tribunals, are both worth avoiding, he says. The bulk of Stay the Hand of Vengeance focuses on how nations dealt with war crimes following the Napoleonic era, World War I, the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the crumbling of Yugoslavia, and several other episodes. Bass, who was a journalist before becoming an academic, writes with great clarity and knows how to combine anecdote with argument to make his point. For those interested in the international prosecution of war crimes from both historical and contemporary perspectives, this is required reading. --John J. Miller