POLSCI 1G06 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Nuremberg, United Nations General Assembly, Dispute Settlement Body
19 Dec 2016
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Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Political Science Lecture International Organizations
International Organizations
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court has a mandate of prosecuting individuals who are
responsible for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes
of aggression
Previous war crimes tribunals (like at Nuremburg) were limited in scope and duration
By contrast, the ICC is a permanent court with fixed standards that apply to individuals
in all member states (at present 124 states)
The ICC can prosecute an individual in three circumstances - see the ICC website for
an elaboration:
1. “The accused is a national of a State Party or a State otherwise accepting the
jurisdiction of the Court”
2. “The crime took place on the territory of a State Party or a State otherwise accepting
the jurisdiction of the Court”
3. “The United Nations Security Council has referred the situation to the Prosecutor,
irrespective of the nationality of the accused or the location of the crime”
Where none of these three are true, the ICC does not have jurisdiction
Does the ICC matter?
Many powerful states (including the US, China, Russia) are not members
Moreover, ICC prosecution can be requested or delayed by the Security Council
However, any delay is not permanent – only for 12 months at a time
A positive Security Council resolution is required for each delay
This means that no 1 state can veto ICC prosecutions
Unlike the case with UN Security Council resolutions
!1
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Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Does this represent a shift in institutional power?
International Monetary Fund
There are two elements that provide the International Monetary Fund with a degree of
autonomy
A) In terms of its operational budget (although not its loan budget) the Fund is by and
large self-funding
B) It also constitutes a large concentration of expertise on issues of financial stability
This arguably makes it a critical node in the formation of ideas (recall our discussion of
constructivism)
Having said this, the ability of the organization to exercise that autonomy is largely
constrained by its most powerful members
Unequal voting rights
Decisions in the IMF are not made on the basis of one state one vote (as is the case in
the UN General Assembly)
They are made on a weighted basis
Weighted according to a state’s financial contribution to the organization
The net effect is that certain economically powerful states have a far greater percentage
of the total votes than others
The United States, since it has contributed the most to the fund, has close to 17% of the
total voting power in the organization
Moreover, since a certain category of IMF decisions requires the approval of 85% of the
total votes, the US has the power to veto actions by the Fund in certain circumstances
World Bank:
The Bank is actually a composite of 5 separate organizations, two of which are most
significant:
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Document Summary
The international criminal court has a mandate of prosecuting individuals who are responsible for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. Previous war crimes tribunals (like at nuremburg) were limited in scope and duration. By contrast, the icc is a permanent court with xed standards that apply to individuals in all member states (at present 124 states) Where none of these three are true, the icc does not have jurisdiction. Many powerful states (including the us, china, russia) are not members. Moreover, icc prosecution can be requested or delayed by the security council. However, any delay is not permanent only for 12 months at a time. A positive security council resolution is required for each delay. This means that no 1 state can veto icc prosecutions. Unlike the case with un security council resolutions. This arguably makes it a critical node in the formation of ideas (recall our discussion of constructivism)
