Transitional justice between the individual and the state: Reading societal responsibility for atrocity into the archives of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Through the example of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), this chapter explores an indirect contribution of international criminal justice to the broader transitional justice project. Starting from a claim that individual- and state-focused justice neglect the issue of “societal responsibility”, the chapter interrogates and extends a concept of societal responsibility across multiple levels. In the context of the role of the historical record in transitional justice, the chapter argues that although focused on establishing individual guilt, international criminal trials, like those heard at the ICTY, produce an archive of material evidencing societal responsibility. This is an effective, if indirect, contribution to transitional justice as the evidence in the testimony and exhibits held in the archive is a legacy that requires activation by others.