Why Would States Want to Join the ICC? A Theoretical Exploration Based on the Legal Nature of Complementarity
COMPLEMENTARY VIEWS ON COMPLEMENTARITY, Jann Kleffner, Gerben Kor, eds., T.M.C. Asser Press, 2005
38 Pages Posted: 1 Dec 2008
Abstract
This chapter seeks to explain why states that are at significant risk of having their nationals commit crimes within the ICC's jurisdiction might nonetheless join the Court. It seeks to craft a theory of joining the ICC as being in the national interest of those states, by focusing on complementarity. Joining the ICC can be seen as part of a process of constitutionalization of certain norms, and the international anchoring of an inter-temporal commitment. The article draws on Jon Elster's paradoxes of rationality, and particularly the reinterpretation of the mythology of Ulysses and the sirens.
Keywords: international law, international criminal law, international criminal court, constitutionalization, ulysses
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation