Music enhances participation in emerging democracies where the rights of association, assemblage, and and the freedom of expression are suppressed by the state apparatus meant to guarantee them in the first place. Ugandan Afropop musician and politician, Robert Kyagulanya (aka Bobi Wine), composed the song “Tugambire ku Jennifer” (Tell Jennifer on Our Behalf), which articulated the social aspirations of Kampala’s street vendors. The song’s meaning does not begin and end with the composer’s intent but stretches to its effects on the listeners. Analyzing meaning through the lens of speech act theory provides an understanding of what music means when it simultaneously reflects and shapes society.

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg established a legal precedent for the proposition that waging a war of aggression is an international offence, for which individuals may be held criminally accountable. The efforts of the First Review Conference of the Rome Statute have resulted in a definition of the crime of aggression being included in the Rome Statute. Although a framework for the International Criminal Court's exercise of jurisdiction over the crime of aggression was also included in the amendments adopted at the Review Conference, such exercise of jurisdiction has not been given immediate effect and is subject to further action by the members of the Assembly of States Parties.