This article investigates the stark variation in elite appraisals of the performance of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Based on an online survey of diplomats posted to the UN headquarters, this article determines which country situations under ICC scrutiny respondents regard as successes or failures and, in turn, what parameters underpin their views. It also asks about negative cases; that is, country situations that never made it to The Hague due to political considerations. This article makes a two-fold contribution to the study of international law and politics. First, it shows that diplomats conceptualize international justice in terms of ongoing prosecutions and convictions obtained. Thus, they downplay indirect effects such as positive complementarity. Interestingly, scholars and diplomats agree on the court’s fiascos, yet dissent on successes. Finally, diplomats have proved tired of political considerations obstructing international justice. Survey data reveals that they want the court to investigate situations involving major powers.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Adebajo, Adekeye. “The Revolt Against the West: Intervention and Sovereignty.” Third World Quarterly 37 (7) (2016), 1187–1202.
Ainley, Kirsten. “The Responsibility to Protect and the International Criminal Court: Counteracting the Crisis.” International Affairs 91 (1) (2015), 37–54.
Akhavan, Payam. “Are International Criminal Tribunals a Disincentive to Peace? Reconciling Judicial Romanticism with Political Realism.” Human Rights Quarterly 31 (3) (2009), 624–654.
Alexander, James. “The International Criminal Court and the Prevention of Atrocities: Predicting the Court’s Impact.” Villanova Law Review 54 (1) (2009), 1–56.
Bocchese, Marco. “Coercing Compliance with the ICC: Empirical Assessment and Theoretical Implications.” Michigan State International Law Review 24 (2) (2016), 357–432.
Bocchese, Marco. “Gbagbo’s Lost Bet: When Inviting External Judicial Scrutiny Backfires.” International Journal of Human Rights 23 (10) (2019), 1648–1672.
Boehme, Franziska. “ ‘We Chose Africa’: South Africa and the Regional Politics of Cooperation with the International Criminal Court.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 11 (1) (2017), 50–70.
Bosco, David. “The International Criminal Court and Crime Prevention: Byproduct of Conscious Goal?” Michigan State Journal of International Law 19 (2) (2010), 163–200.
Bosco, David. Rough Justice: The International Criminal Court in a World of Power Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
Bosco, David. “Palestine in The Hague: Justice, Geopolitics, and the International Criminal Court.” Global Governance 22 (1) (2016), 155–171.
Bosco, David. “Discretion and State Influence at the International Criminal Court: The Prosecutor’s Preliminary Examinations.” American Journal of International Law 111 (2) (2017), 395–414.
Caban, Pavel. “Preliminary Examinations by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.” Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law 2 (2011), 199–216.
Chaudoin, Stephen. “How Contestation Moderates the Effects of International Institutions: The International Criminal Court and Kenya.” Journal of Politics 78 (2) (2016), 557–571.
Clark, Phil. “Law, Politics and Pragmatism: ICC Case Selection in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.” In Courting Conflict? Justice, Peace and the ICC in Africa, eds. Nicholas Waddell and Phil Clark (London: Royal African Society, 2008), 37–46.
Fairlie, Megan. “The Hidden Costs of Strategic Communications for the International Criminal Court.” Texas International Law Journal 51 (3) (2016), 281–319.
Fisher, Kirsten, and Cristina Stefan. “The Ethics of International Criminal ‘Lawfare.’ ” International Criminal Law Review 16 (2) (2016), 237–257.
Ford, Stuart. “The ICC and the Security Council: How Much Support Is There for Ending Impunity?” Indiana International and Comparative Law Review 26 (1) (2016), 33–67.
Gegout, Catherine. “The International Criminal Court: Limits, Potential and Conditions for the Promotion of Justice and Peace.” Third World Quarterly 34 (5) (2013), 800–818.
Grono, Nick, and Adam O’Brien. “Justice in Conflict? The ICC and Peace Processes.” In Courting Conflict? Justice, Peace and the ICC in Africa, eds. Nicholas Waddell and Phil Clark (London: Royal African Society, 2008), 13–20.
Hafner-Burton, Emilie, Brad LeVeck, David Victor, and James Fowler. “Decision Maker Preferences for International Legal Cooperation.” International Organization 68 (4) (2014), 845–876.
Hillebrecht, Courtney, and Scott Straus. “Who Pursues the Perpetrators? State Cooperation with the ICC.” Human Rights Quarterly 39 (1) (2017), 162–188.
Howard-Hassmann, Rhode E. “Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, 2000–2009: Massive Human Rights Violations and the Failure to Protect.” Human Rights Quarterly 32 (4) (2010), 898–920.
Hurd, Ian. “International Law and The Politics of Diplomacy.” In Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics, eds. Ole Jacob Sending, Vincent Pouliot, and Iver Neumann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 31–54.
Jo, Hyeran, and Beth Simmons. “Can the International Criminal Court Deter Atrocity?” International Organization 70 (3) (2016), 443–475.
Kaye, David, and Kal Raustiala. “The Council and the Court: Law and Politics in the Rise of the International Criminal Court.” Texas Law Review 94 (4) (2016), 713–741.
Kendall, Sara. “ ‘UhuRuto’ and Other Leviathans: The International Criminal Court and the Kenyan Political Order.” African Journal of Legal Studies 7 (3) (2014), 399–427.
Kirsch, Philippe. “The International Criminal Court: From Rome to Kampala.” John Marshall Law Review 43 (3) (2010), 515–533.
Kontorovich, Eugene. “Israel/Palestine—The ICC’s Uncharted Territory.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 11 (5) (2013), 979–999.
Mackie, Aimee. “Perceptions, Politics, and Peace: The Limits of Globalization in Legitimizing the International Criminal Court.” Macalester International 30 (1) (2012), 132–151.
McKeown, Ryder. “International Law and its Discontents: Exploring the Dark Sides of International Law in International Relations.” Review of International Studies 43 (3) (2017), 430–452.
Mnookin, Robert. “Rethinking the Tension between Peace and Justice: The International Criminal Prosecutor as Diplomat.” Harvard Negotiation Law Review 18 (1) (2013), 145–174.
Nouwen, Sarah, and Wouter Werner. “Doing Justice to the Political: The International Criminal Court in Uganda and Sudan.” European Journal of International Law 21 (4) (2010), 941–965.
“Omar al-Bashir: Sudan Agrees Ex-President Must Face ICC.” BBC News, 11 February 2020.
Pouliot, Vincent. “The Practice of Permanent Representation to International Organizations.” In Diplomacy and the Making of World Politics, eds. Ole Jacob Sending, Vincent Pouliot, and Iver Neumann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 80–110.
Ramsden, Michael, and Tomas Hamilton. “Uniting Against Impunity: The UN General Assembly as a Catalyst for Action at the ICC.” International and Comparative Law Quarterly 66 (4) (2017), 893–921.
Rosenberg, Sophie. “The International Criminal Court in Côte d’ Ivoire: Impartiality at Stake?” Journal of International Criminal Justice 15 (3) (2017), 471–490.
Tiemessen, Alana. “The International Criminal Court and the Lawfare of Judicial Intervention.” International Relations 30 (4) (2016), 409–431.
Vinjamuri, Leslie. “Deterrence, Democracy, and the Pursuit of International Justice.” Ethics and International Affairs 24 (2) (2010), 191–211.
Voeten, Erik. “Public Opinion and the Legitimacy of International Courts.” Theoretical Inquiries in Law 14 (2) (2013), 411–436.
Wardak, Ahmad Wais, Andrew Corin, and Richard Wilson. “Surveying History at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.” Journal of Eurasian Law 4 (1) (2011), 1–39.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 1721 | 342 | 25 |
Full Text Views | 204 | 9 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 327 | 20 | 8 |
This article investigates the stark variation in elite appraisals of the performance of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Based on an online survey of diplomats posted to the UN headquarters, this article determines which country situations under ICC scrutiny respondents regard as successes or failures and, in turn, what parameters underpin their views. It also asks about negative cases; that is, country situations that never made it to The Hague due to political considerations. This article makes a two-fold contribution to the study of international law and politics. First, it shows that diplomats conceptualize international justice in terms of ongoing prosecutions and convictions obtained. Thus, they downplay indirect effects such as positive complementarity. Interestingly, scholars and diplomats agree on the court’s fiascos, yet dissent on successes. Finally, diplomats have proved tired of political considerations obstructing international justice. Survey data reveals that they want the court to investigate situations involving major powers.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 1721 | 342 | 25 |
Full Text Views | 204 | 9 | 3 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 327 | 20 | 8 |