Escaping Justice
Impunity for State Crimes in the Age of Accountability

Examines the process through which accountability for state crimes is pursued or frustrated.

Cyanne E. Loyle (Author)

9781009584968, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 October 2025

223 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.5 cm, 0.36 kg

'Escaping Justice explores how states can appear to seek accountability but avoid liability for their own crimes. Using qualitative data from interviews and focus groups, Loyle explains three ways that states can avoid accountability while appearing to seek it at the same time. … The overall argument is that states can appear to seek accountability for past atrocities while at the same time ignoring crimes committed by those in power in order to protect their power. … Recommended.' W. R. Pruitt, Choice

Now more than ever the international community plays a central role in pressing governments to hold their own to account. Despite pressure to adhere to global human rights norms, governments continue to benefit from impunity for their past crimes. In an age of accountability, how do states continue to escape justice? This book presents a theory of strategic adaptation which explains the conditions under which governments adopt transitional justice without a genuine commitment to holding state forces to account. Cyanne E. Loyle develops this theory through in-depth fieldwork from Rwanda, Uganda, and Northern Ireland conducted over the last ten years. Research in each of these cases reveals a unique strategy of adaption: coercion, containment, and concession. Using evidence from these cases, Loyle traces the conditions under which a government pursues its chosen strategies and the resulting transitional justice outcomes. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Preface and acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Escaping justice in the age of accountability
2. Justice and coercion in Rwanda
3. The big tent of justice in Uganda
4. Justice concessions in Northern Ireland
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Methodology
Appendix 2: Elite interview list by case
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]