Handle Our Own Business: Bargaining in the Shadow of the ICC

• In Event: New Directions in Transitional Justice

Abstract

During and in the aftermath of periods of conflict and oppression, the International Criminal Court (ICC) sometimes indicates interest in the domestic accountability processes established in relevant states. ICC interest comes with an implicit threat to those in power: do nothing, and the Office of the Prosecutor may intervene. Does this threat prompt genuine compliance on the part of states, or does it lead states to construct a plethora of domestic institutions to handle transitional justice in an effort to avoid international accountability? When are these state efforts successful, and when does the Prosecutor intervene regardless of what is happening on the ground? Using insights from a formal bargaining model, I argue that the domestic processes established under the shadow of the Court are reflective of international and domestic power politics that can hurt or, under some conditions, actually help those most responsible for atrocity.

Author

• Genevieve Bates, University of Chicago