The Economics of Exceptionalism
The US and the International Criminal Court
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.29526Keywords:
International Criminal Court, free rider, costs, institutionsAbstract
This article is a response to a call for a study of international criminal law as an economic phenomenon, going beyond addressing administrability, commensurability, and interpersonal comparison of utility, band instead focusing on problems of institutional choice. This approach differs from the typical methods of normative and descriptive scholarship of international criminal law. An institution like the International Criminal Court (ICC) can be usefully examined as an international public good, and as such offering little incentives for states such as the United States of America to join as they can enjoy benefits without costs. This article examines the economic basis for the US non-participation in the ICC and grapples with future prospectives.
References
Abbott W. Kenneth and Duncan Snidel. 2000. “Hard and Soft Law in International Governance.” International Organization 54: 421–456. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/002081800551280
Alter, Karen, J. 2008. “Agents or Trustees? International Courts in their Political Context.” European Journal of International Law 14: 33–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354066107087769
Arieff, Alexis, Rhoda Margesson, Marjorie Ann Browne and Matthew C. Weed. 2011. International Criminal Court Cases in Africa: Status and Policy Issues. Congressional Research Service Report. Available at https: //www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34665.pdf
ASPA. 2002. American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002. P.L. 107–206, Title II.
Axerod, Robert. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.
Bennett, John T. 2011. “Pentagon says military deployment to Uganda ‘will not be open-ended.’” The Hill. Available at http: //thehill.com/news-by-subject/defense-homeland-security/189625-pentagon-uganda-mission-will-not-be-open-ended?page=2
Chesney, Robert. 2011. “Who May be Killed?: Anwar Al-Awlaki as a Case Study in the International Legal Regulation of the Use of Force.” In Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, edited by M. N. Schmitt, T. McCormack and Louise Arimatsu. The Hague: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-90-6704-811-8_1
Dunn, William N. 2012. Policy Analysis. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Dunoff, Jeffrey L. and Trachtman Joel P. 1999a. “Economic Analysis of International Law.” Yale Journal of International Law 24: 2–35.
———. 1999b. “The Law and Economics of Humanitarian Law Violations in Internal Conflicts.” American Journal of International Law 93: 394–409. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2997997
Elsea, K. Jennifer. 2006. “US Policy Regarding the International Criminal Court.” Congressional Research Service. Available at http: //fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/73990.pdf
Fairlie, Megan. 2010. “The United States and the International Criminal Court Post-Bush: A Beautiful Courtship But an Unlikely Marriage.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 29: 528–576.
Finnemore, Martha and Sikkink, Katherine. 1998. “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change.” International Organization 52: 887–917. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/002081898550789
Friedman, Les. 2002. The Microeconomics of Public Policy Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Goldsmith, Jack. 2011. “Obama Sends 100 US Troops to Uganda to Help Combat Lord’s Resistance Army.” Available at http: //www.lawfareblog.com/2011/10/obama-sends-100-us-troops-to-uganda-to-help-combat-lord%E2%80%99s-resistance-army/
Grayson, Amanda. 2010. “Is ICC Submission in the Best Interest of US National Security: A Cost Benefit Analysis.” Global Security Studies 1: 131–143.
Guzman, Andrew T. 2008. “International Tribunals: A Rational Choice Analysis.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 157: 171–235.
Hirshman, Albert. 1970. Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Declines in Firms, Organizations and States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kahn, Paul W. “American Hegemony and International Law: Speaking Law to Power: Popular Sovereignty, Human Rights, and the New International Order.” Chicago Journal of International Law 1: 1–18.
Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Collaboration and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Koh, Harold H. 1997. “Why Do Nations Obey International Law?” Yale Law Journal 106: 2599–2659. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/797228
Obama, Barack. 2010. National Security Strategy. White House.
Perrow, Charles. 1961. “The Analysis of Goals in Complex Organizations.” American Sociological Review 26: 854–866. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2090570
Posner, Eric. 2009. The Perils of Global Legalism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226675923.001.0001
Prosper, Pierre-Richard and Newton, Michael. 2002. “The Bush Administration View of International Accountability.” New England Law Review 36: 891–902.
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Boston, MA: Belknap Press.
Reisman, W. Michael. 2005. “On Paying the Piper: Financial Responsibility for Security Council Referrals to the International Criminal Court.” American Journal of International Law 99: 615–618. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1602293
Romano, P. R. Cesare. 2009. “The United States and International Courts: Getting the Cost-Benefit Analysis Right.” In The Sword and the Scales: The United States and International Courts and Tribunals, edited by Cesare Romano, 419–444. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819759; http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819759.014; PMCid:PMC2771658
Ruggie, John G. 1998. Constructing the World Polity: Essays on International Institutionalization. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203424261
Sadat, Leila Nadya. 2010. “A Rawlsian Approach to International Criminal Justice and the International Criminal Court.” Washington University St. Lewis Law School. Legal Studies Research Paper Series Paper No. 10-07-01: 1–27.
Scheffer, David. 2001. “Staying the Course with the International Criminal Court.” Cornell International Law Journal 35: 47–100.
Scheffer, J. David. 1998. “Testimony, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues. U.N. International Criminal Court: Hearings before the Subcommittee on International Operations of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.” 105 Congress.
Shany, Yuval. 2010. “Assessing the Effectiveness of International Courts: Can the Unquantifiable be Quantified?” International Law Forum of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research Paper No. 03–10: 1–49.
Slaughter, Anne-Marie, Andrew S. Tulumello and Stephan Wood. 1998. “International Law and International Relations Theory: A New Generation of Interdisciplinary Scholarship.” American Journal of International Law 92: 367–397. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2997914
Sterba, James P. 1978. “In Defense of Rawls and Arrow and Nozick.” Philosophia 7: 293–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02378816
UN. 2002. “Comprehensive Report on the Results of the Implementation of the Expert Group to Conduct a Review of the Effective Operation and Functioning of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.” UN doc. A/56/853, March 4, 2004. Available at http: //www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/56/a56853.pdf
Wedgwood, Ruth, Harold K. Jacobson and Leigh Monroe. 2001. “The United States and the Statute of Rome.” American Journal of International Law 95: 124–132. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2642042
Weed, Matthew. 2011. “International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute.” 2010 Review Conference. Congressional Research Service. Available at https: //www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41682.pdf
Zackin, Ralph. 2004. “The Failings of ad hoc International Tribunals.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 2: 541–545. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jicj/2.2.541
Alter, Karen, J. 2008. “Agents or Trustees? International Courts in their Political Context.” European Journal of International Law 14: 33–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354066107087769
Arieff, Alexis, Rhoda Margesson, Marjorie Ann Browne and Matthew C. Weed. 2011. International Criminal Court Cases in Africa: Status and Policy Issues. Congressional Research Service Report. Available at https: //www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34665.pdf
ASPA. 2002. American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002. P.L. 107–206, Title II.
Axerod, Robert. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.
Bennett, John T. 2011. “Pentagon says military deployment to Uganda ‘will not be open-ended.’” The Hill. Available at http: //thehill.com/news-by-subject/defense-homeland-security/189625-pentagon-uganda-mission-will-not-be-open-ended?page=2
Chesney, Robert. 2011. “Who May be Killed?: Anwar Al-Awlaki as a Case Study in the International Legal Regulation of the Use of Force.” In Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, edited by M. N. Schmitt, T. McCormack and Louise Arimatsu. The Hague: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-90-6704-811-8_1
Dunn, William N. 2012. Policy Analysis. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Dunoff, Jeffrey L. and Trachtman Joel P. 1999a. “Economic Analysis of International Law.” Yale Journal of International Law 24: 2–35.
———. 1999b. “The Law and Economics of Humanitarian Law Violations in Internal Conflicts.” American Journal of International Law 93: 394–409. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2997997
Elsea, K. Jennifer. 2006. “US Policy Regarding the International Criminal Court.” Congressional Research Service. Available at http: //fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/73990.pdf
Fairlie, Megan. 2010. “The United States and the International Criminal Court Post-Bush: A Beautiful Courtship But an Unlikely Marriage.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 29: 528–576.
Finnemore, Martha and Sikkink, Katherine. 1998. “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change.” International Organization 52: 887–917. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/002081898550789
Friedman, Les. 2002. The Microeconomics of Public Policy Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Goldsmith, Jack. 2011. “Obama Sends 100 US Troops to Uganda to Help Combat Lord’s Resistance Army.” Available at http: //www.lawfareblog.com/2011/10/obama-sends-100-us-troops-to-uganda-to-help-combat-lord%E2%80%99s-resistance-army/
Grayson, Amanda. 2010. “Is ICC Submission in the Best Interest of US National Security: A Cost Benefit Analysis.” Global Security Studies 1: 131–143.
Guzman, Andrew T. 2008. “International Tribunals: A Rational Choice Analysis.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 157: 171–235.
Hirshman, Albert. 1970. Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Declines in Firms, Organizations and States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kahn, Paul W. “American Hegemony and International Law: Speaking Law to Power: Popular Sovereignty, Human Rights, and the New International Order.” Chicago Journal of International Law 1: 1–18.
Keohane, Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Collaboration and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Koh, Harold H. 1997. “Why Do Nations Obey International Law?” Yale Law Journal 106: 2599–2659. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/797228
Obama, Barack. 2010. National Security Strategy. White House.
Perrow, Charles. 1961. “The Analysis of Goals in Complex Organizations.” American Sociological Review 26: 854–866. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2090570
Posner, Eric. 2009. The Perils of Global Legalism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226675923.001.0001
Prosper, Pierre-Richard and Newton, Michael. 2002. “The Bush Administration View of International Accountability.” New England Law Review 36: 891–902.
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Boston, MA: Belknap Press.
Reisman, W. Michael. 2005. “On Paying the Piper: Financial Responsibility for Security Council Referrals to the International Criminal Court.” American Journal of International Law 99: 615–618. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1602293
Romano, P. R. Cesare. 2009. “The United States and International Courts: Getting the Cost-Benefit Analysis Right.” In The Sword and the Scales: The United States and International Courts and Tribunals, edited by Cesare Romano, 419–444. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819759; http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819759.014; PMCid:PMC2771658
Ruggie, John G. 1998. Constructing the World Polity: Essays on International Institutionalization. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203424261
Sadat, Leila Nadya. 2010. “A Rawlsian Approach to International Criminal Justice and the International Criminal Court.” Washington University St. Lewis Law School. Legal Studies Research Paper Series Paper No. 10-07-01: 1–27.
Scheffer, David. 2001. “Staying the Course with the International Criminal Court.” Cornell International Law Journal 35: 47–100.
Scheffer, J. David. 1998. “Testimony, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues. U.N. International Criminal Court: Hearings before the Subcommittee on International Operations of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.” 105 Congress.
Shany, Yuval. 2010. “Assessing the Effectiveness of International Courts: Can the Unquantifiable be Quantified?” International Law Forum of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research Paper No. 03–10: 1–49.
Slaughter, Anne-Marie, Andrew S. Tulumello and Stephan Wood. 1998. “International Law and International Relations Theory: A New Generation of Interdisciplinary Scholarship.” American Journal of International Law 92: 367–397. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2997914
Sterba, James P. 1978. “In Defense of Rawls and Arrow and Nozick.” Philosophia 7: 293–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02378816
UN. 2002. “Comprehensive Report on the Results of the Implementation of the Expert Group to Conduct a Review of the Effective Operation and Functioning of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.” UN doc. A/56/853, March 4, 2004. Available at http: //www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/56/a56853.pdf
Wedgwood, Ruth, Harold K. Jacobson and Leigh Monroe. 2001. “The United States and the Statute of Rome.” American Journal of International Law 95: 124–132. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2642042
Weed, Matthew. 2011. “International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute.” 2010 Review Conference. Congressional Research Service. Available at https: //www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41682.pdf
Zackin, Ralph. 2004. “The Failings of ad hoc International Tribunals.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 2: 541–545. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jicj/2.2.541
Published
2016-12-21
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Dickson, T. (2016). The Economics of Exceptionalism: The US and the International Criminal Court. Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, 24(2), 135-148. https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.29526
