Why Justice Stops Where Power Begins: The ICC in a Divided International System

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was created to rise above politics and end impunity for the world’s most serious crimes. Two decades later, its record shows a marked geographical and political imbalance. Nearly all full investigations and prosecutions have targeted states in the Global South, especially in Africa, while cases involving actors from the Global North or powerful non-Western regions have rarely moved beyond preliminary review. This article applies the theoretical lens of Structural Realism to explain why global justice advances only where enforcement is politically feasible. Drawing on comparative cases from both hemispheres, including Sudan, Kenya, and Mali in the Global South and Afghanistan, Iraq-United Kingdom, and Palestine/Israel in the Global North and Middle East, the study argues that the ICC mirrors rather than transcends the hierarchies of the international order. The Court’s dependence on state cooperation, financial support, and Security Council authorization ties its authority to the same powers it may one day wish to prosecute. Justice therefore stops where political and military power begin. The article concludes that genuine universality in international criminal justice will remain elusive until global inequalities of power and governance are addressed.