Criminological Perspectives on Palestine:

Stream II - State, Corporate and Academic Responsibility in the face of Atrocity Crimes

We invite contributions examining the responsibilities of states, corporations, universities and other institutions in the contexts of Israel’s atrocity crimes. We are particularly interested in questions of complicity, prevention, accountability, institutional responsibility and the criminalisation or suppression of solidarity and resistance:

• State obligations and responsibilities towards atrocity crimes: Critical criminology has extensively examined state crime, state violence, and state harms. Important questions remain, however, about how criminology can account for the full range of harms produced through Israel’s system of occupation, colonisation, securitisation and other forms of state power, including harms that extend beyond the direct actions of state institutions. The International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 concluded that Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and identified legal consequences for Israel, other States and international organisations, including obligations concerning non-recognition and non-assistance. The Opinion raises broader questions concerning the interpretation, implementation and enforcement of states' international obligations in situations involving prolonged occupation, systematic violations and atrocity crimes. The Opinion also raises questions concerning how states have interpreted and implemented these obligations in domestic and international practice. We therefore invite contributions examining state responsibility and state crime in relation to Palestine and beyond, including questions of complicity, prevention, non-assistance, accountability, jurisdiction, implementation and the domestic consequences of international legal obligations. 
   

• Corporate responsibility and corporate crime: Atrocity crimes are not necessarily perpetrated or sustained by states alone and may involve actors beyond the state. In her report From economy of occupation to economy of genocide, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, for example, examines the involvement and alleged complicity of private companies in the context of Gaza. This raises broader questions about the responsibilities of corporations and other private institutions whose activities may enable, facilitate, or profit from systems of occupation, apartheid, violence, or other forms of mass harm. We invite contributions examining corporate crime, corporate complicity and corporate responsibility in Palestine and beyond. Topics may include the roles of arms manufacturers, technology companies, financial institutions, universities, construction and infrastructure firms, investment funds and other private actors; business and human-rights due diligence; corporate criminal and civil liability; supply chains and procurement; and mechanisms for corporate accountability.  We also welcome contributions examining campaigns directed at corporations whose activities are alleged to contribute to systems of occupation, violence or other forms of mass harm, including boycotts, divestment campaigns, direct action and trade-union organising. Contributions may consider the legal status of such activities, their institutional and political effects, and attempts to restrict or criminalise them.
   

• The future of academic responsibility and resistance tactics in criminology and beyond: Learning from the attempts to silence and criminalise academic solidarity and resistance regarding Palestine, we invite authors to consider how to resist atrocities, refuse their normalisation, and reclaim Palestinian and academic spaces in the future. We are interested in critical theoretical and practical debates about the ways in which academic solidarity and resistance should be ‘done’, also paying special attention to cooptation efforts framed as academic freedom. Contributions can entail theoretical projections of liberation from oppression and/or practical tactics of decolonisation and university/campus autonomy. We further invite authors to explore what an academic boycott is, how it operates, and why it has become a crucial tool for collective action. We encourage researchers to examine how universities and research institutions are complicit in atrocity crimes, and to consider the history of academic boycotts as a means of promoting accountability and solidarity. We also welcome historical and comparative analyses of academic boycotts, divestment campaigns and other forms of institutional accountability. 
   

• Criminalisation of solidarity and academic resistance:  We invite contributions examining the policing, surveillance, restriction and criminalisation of solidarity and academic resistance in relation to Palestine. Topics may include the policing of student protests, restrictions on academic speech and publications, disciplinary proceedings against academics and students, surveillance, restrictions on campus organising, and legal or institutional measures affecting advocacy and protest. We also welcome critical and comparative engagement with debates concerning antisemitism, including competing definitions and conceptualisations, their application in academic and institutional settings, and debates about their implications for scholarship, protest and advocacy relating to Palestinian rights. Contributions may further examine the history and contemporary practice of organising within universities and scientific organisations, including academic boycott initiatives and other forms of collective action. We welcome theoretical, empirical and comparative contributions examining the conditions under which academic solidarity, institutional resistance and other forms of collective action emerge.