TITLE:
A Crisis of Governmentality: The Critique of the International Criminal Court
AUTHORS:
Bayo Ayodeji
KEYWORDS:
Crisis, Governmentality, International Criminal Court, Regional Criminal Courts, International Law and Order, Dominant Western States
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.10,
October
9,
2026
ABSTRACT: This paper has critically examined the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and argues that the limitations and challenges it faces constitute an existential crisis of governmentality rooted in its foundation. Drawing on Foucauldian theories of power, the paper posits that the ICC is entangled in a governmentality crisis due to its failure to function effectively and independently in accordance with the treaty and legal framework that established it. This failure is largely attributed to structural constraints, external pressures, and indirect control exerted by Western imperial powers. The crisis of governmentality reflects a breakdown in the ICC’s capacity to govern through normative authority, legal legitimacy, and moral influence, especially when these mechanisms are applied selectively and inconsistently. Understanding this situation as a crisis of governmentality allows us to frame the ICC’s challenges not as technical or procedural, but as existential and systemic problems that cannot be resolved within the global political order that produced them. As a response to this crisis, the paper proposes the establishment of Regional Criminal Courts (RCCs) as an alternative to the ICC. RCCs have the potential to strengthen international law and order, restore trust and credibility in international legal institutions, and ensure the fair administration of justice for crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity without undue interference from dominant Western states.