By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and Aggression

The progressive development of international criminal law is part of a long tradition. International criminal norms have evolved in a process focused on expanding the protection of the underlying values of the system and its anti-impunity agenda. This has also implied the strategic classification of...

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Main Author: Vera Piovesan
Format: Article
Language:Bosnian
Published: Balkan Studies Foundation 2025-06-01
Series:Journal of Balkan Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://balkanjournal.org/jbs/article/view/108
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author Vera Piovesan
author_facet Vera Piovesan
author_sort Vera Piovesan
collection DOAJ
description The progressive development of international criminal law is part of a long tradition. International criminal norms have evolved in a process focused on expanding the protection of the underlying values of the system and its anti-impunity agenda. This has also implied the strategic classification of ambiguous underlying acts under different crimes depending on prosecutorial or institutional considerations. However, this article observes a different recent trend in academic discourse, in which an international crime is fully reconceptualized as another in order to overcome jurisdictional limitations. Ecocide and aggression are identified as the primary examples emerging in legal literature. In the case of the former, the reconceptualization proposals have been met with support by the International Criminal Court itself. In the case of aggression, the proposals remain very marginal in legal discourse. This article examines this trend through the lens of expressivism, thus exploring its promises and perils in terms of communicative impact, and it argues that such reconceptualization conveys some problematic messages that warrant further analysis.
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language Bosnian
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spelling doaj-art-3d6729aa25dd4d8d912c9ec520e25cf82025-08-20T03:29:43ZbosBalkan Studies FoundationJournal of Balkan Studies2671-36752671-36592025-06-015Special Issue10912810.51331/A061108By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and AggressionVera Piovesan0European Forensic InstituteThe progressive development of international criminal law is part of a long tradition. International criminal norms have evolved in a process focused on expanding the protection of the underlying values of the system and its anti-impunity agenda. This has also implied the strategic classification of ambiguous underlying acts under different crimes depending on prosecutorial or institutional considerations. However, this article observes a different recent trend in academic discourse, in which an international crime is fully reconceptualized as another in order to overcome jurisdictional limitations. Ecocide and aggression are identified as the primary examples emerging in legal literature. In the case of the former, the reconceptualization proposals have been met with support by the International Criminal Court itself. In the case of aggression, the proposals remain very marginal in legal discourse. This article examines this trend through the lens of expressivism, thus exploring its promises and perils in terms of communicative impact, and it argues that such reconceptualization conveys some problematic messages that warrant further analysis.https://balkanjournal.org/jbs/article/view/108international criminal lawaggressionecocideexpressivism
spellingShingle Vera Piovesan
By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and Aggression
Journal of Balkan Studies
international criminal law
aggression
ecocide
expressivism
title By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and Aggression
title_full By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and Aggression
title_fullStr By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and Aggression
title_full_unstemmed By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and Aggression
title_short By Any Other Name: Expressive Implications of Reconceptualizing an International Crime as Another through the Examples of Ecocide and Aggression
title_sort by any other name expressive implications of reconceptualizing an international crime as another through the examples of ecocide and aggression
topic international criminal law
aggression
ecocide
expressivism
url https://balkanjournal.org/jbs/article/view/108
work_keys_str_mv AT verapiovesan byanyothernameexpressiveimplicationsofreconceptualizinganinternationalcrimeasanotherthroughtheexamplesofecocideandaggression