The International Criminal Court : Promise and Politics

This paper examines the promise and politics of the International Criminal Court. It analyzes the structural, institutional, and normative deficits of the ICC and argues that it was due to these deficits that the ICC's pursuit of several African high ranking indictees that it was deeply -- perhaps fatally -- damaged. The paper contends that the blame for these failures must be shared by a number of actors including African leaders within the AU, influential Western powers, and the United Nations