Toby Cadman examines four recent atrocity trials in Bosnia, Kosovo, Bangladesh and Syria, arguing that credible accountability depends not on institutional design alone, but on fairness, transparency, public ownership and the quality of judicial reasoning.

For two decades, Daniel Ortega preserved the appearance of democracy while systematically dismantling its foundations. With the announcement that Nicaragua will no longer hold elections, the pretence has ended. Toby Cadman examines how constitutions, courts, the legal profession and civil society are captured before the ballot box itself disappears, and why the rule of law must confront autocracy before its final stage