Sinja Graf is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. Her work examines the relationship between international norms and political violence at the intersection of political theory, history of political thought, and international law. Her research has been published in disciplinary and interdisciplinary journals.

Winner, 2022 Best Book in Political Theory, European Consortium for Political Research
Honorable Mention, 2022 Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award, International History and Politics Section, American Political Science Association
Winner, 2022 Book Award, International Ethics Section, International Studies Association

"This work ... represents a worthy contribution to the specialist literature and will benefit historians, political theorists, and scholars of international law alike." -- Karl W. Schweizer, Diplomatica

"Brimming with insights and finely grained readings of major thinkers from Locke to the present day (many of which I do not have space to delineate here), The Humanity of Universal Crime is a major achievement that deserves a wide readership in several disciplines" -- A. Dirk Moses, Perspectives on Politics

"This is a fresh and original reading of the powerful and now ubiquitous term, 'crimes against humanity'. The concept has been prominently developed in international criminal law. By tracing the genealogy of the broader concept of 'universal crimes', Graf offers an original and provocative reading, not only of 'crimes against humanity' but of key issues and ideas such as humanity, hierarchy, authority, intervention and imperialism, sovereignty, and rights. This superb book is a valuable contribution to some of the major debates of our times about global justice and international order." -- Antony Anghie, National University of Singapore and University of Utah

"The Humanity of Universal Crime masterfully traces how the idea of crimes against humanity has become one of the fundamental idioms of modern politics. In imagining humanity as a collective subject through the register of crime, policing, and punishment, this idiom paradoxically fortifies global hierarchies and structures the terms of dissent. With great clarity and striking insight, Sinja Graf explores how 'universal crime' functions, from classical liberalism to abolitionists against slavery, from liberal cosmopolitanism to debates about the anthropocene. It is essential reading for scholars of international law, global politics, and international political theory." -- Murad Idris, University of Virginia and author of War for Peace: Genealogies of a Violent Ideal in Western and Islamic Thought

"In this groundbreaking inquiry into the political productivity of the notion of crimes against humanity, Sinja Graf documents how both elements—crime and humanity—work to establish normative and legal hierarchies which, in turn, justify and legitimate forms of juridical and material violence. Drawing on and contributing to international human rights and criminal law, international political theory, and global politics and history, this brilliant book offers a wholly original formulation of the meaning and significance of crimes against humanity." -- Helen M. Kinsella, author of The Image before the Weapon: A Critical History of the Distinction between Combatant and Civilian

"This beautifully written, historically rich book interrogates the circulation of 'crimes against humanity' in global discourse, exploring the idea's productive entanglements with European imperialism and international law. By shifting our theoretical gaze to the concept of 'universal crime,' Graf presents a bold, new approach to navigating the seeming disconnect between liberal universalism and the Eurocentric ordering of the world. At the same time, The Humanity of Universal Crime serves as timely warning for political movements drawn to the innocence of 'humanity as a whole' and presses all of us to ask more probing questions about the kinds of exclusions the term both produces and obscures." -- Jeanne Morefield, University of Birmingham

"Including victims in 'humanity' ratifies hierarchy, Sinja Graf shows in this compelling book. Using the tools of political theory to reinterpret postcolonial critiques of humanism, the chapters follow the historical emergence of the notion of universal crime, from the days of John Locke to the apogee of European colonialism in the nineteenth century to the recent emergence of global policing. This is a must-read for historians, lawyers, and political theorists." -- Samuel Moyn, Yale University