Above the Law

The United States has traditionally been a great promoter of international justice - forging the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals after World War II and leading the way in creating tribunals to address genocides in Yugoslavia and Rwanda after the Cold War. Yet the US views the International Criminal Court - the culmination of the tribunal-building process - as a dire threat. The US voted against its establishment, passed legislation threatening to invade The Hague, and tried to destroy the ICC with economic sanctions. Delving into the uneasy relationship between the world's superpower and one of its most prominent international institutions, Above the Law explains how the desire to shield American soldiers from unwanted ICC scrutiny is the ultimate source of tension. Offering a sophisticated analysis of the ICC's track record that shows how American fears are overblown, Daniel Krcmaric argues that a more cooperative US policy toward the ICC would benefit both sides.

Daniel Krcmaric is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. He is the author of The Justice Dilemma: Leaders and Exile in an Era of Accountability (Cornell, 2020) and his research has won awards from the American Political Science Association and the Peace Science Society.