U.S. Policies toward the International Criminal Court and the Enforcement of Norms Prohibiting War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: Power, Ideology, and Human Rights.

This paper examines (1) United States policies advanced by the Bush administration and the leadership of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives toward the establishment and use of the International Criminal Court; and (2) the responses of the European Union and the wider international community to U.S. efforts to achieve immunity from the Court’s reach for all U.S. nationals and more generally to prevent the effective functioning of an independent international criminal court. The paper analyzes alternative explanations for U.S. attitudes toward the Court and toward the enforcement of international humanitarian and human rights law, highlighting the different power positions and ideological orientations of international, transnational, and domestic actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]