Tracing the development of international humanitarian law especially since World War II, this volume focuses on the role of the international community in crafting international and mixed war crimes tribunals. It examines the cases of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and East Timor. These tribunals are legal institutions embedded within a political environment in which the need for nation-state consensus can undermine their judicial effectiveness and ultimately the quest for justice. One of the principal themes examined is how the demands of state sovereignty and finance have contributed to the constant innovation of these tribunals. This is the only book available covering the breadth of cases and it places these institutions within the general development of international humanitarian law.