Judicialization as contestation: Ecocide, the small island states, and the international politics of environmental justice

Over the past decade, the reemerging debate about the introduction of ecocide as an international crime has brought about increasing scholarly and public debate. Small Island States have played a major role in this debate arguing for sanctioning and codifying widespread and long-term environmental harm in international criminal law. Recognizing the diversity among the Small Island States, five countries that have adhered to the Rome Statute are of particular interest: Belize, the Republic of Fiji, the Republic of Maldives, Samoa, and the Republic of Vanuatu. We explore which role these states have played in the debate on the judicialization of ecocide and ask how and to what extent they have contested prevailing norms in global environmental governance regarding the criminalization of grave environmental harm. With a qualitative document analysis, we scrutinize the agency of the Small Island States involved in global power dynamics around the judicialization of ecocide. Based on our empirical analysis, we argue that these processes can be conceptualized as norm contestation, revealing an ‘agency of the governed’. By discursively disapproving international norms – either regarding their validity per se, or regarding their general or situational application –, these actors formerly perceived as mere ‘norm takers’ have become norm entrepreneurs, actively shaping the international normative fabric of global environmental governance.