Political Perspectives of Marjorie Cohn. Cowboy Republic Essay

Political Perspectives of Marjorie Cohn. Cowboy Republic - Essay Example Given the dominance the United States in world affairs, most justice groups and organizations championing for human rights from around the world, including the United States, became critical about the decision. Despite the United States having signed up to the Rome statute that established the International Criminal Court in 2000, the administration of the then president George Bush unsigned the statute in 2002. Since then, the United States has continued to pressure other countries into signing agreements forbidding them from surrendering citizens of the United States to the International Criminal Court. The United States even threatened to use force, including military force in the event that any of its citizens are held at the court1. Erna Paris attempts to explore why The United States, a country known to be vocal in matters relating to human rights would refuse to protect human rights by not signing up to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court. From a political perspective, the United States had the fear that the International Criminal Court may be used politically by other nations against it. For a long time, the United States continually got involved in dubious schemes around the world. In most cases, it got involved in the propping up of dictators and unpopular regimes. The United States has also been known to train and offer arms to a number of known abusers of human rights. This was mostly done during the period of cold war. The United States justified its actions as being better than if it allowed such countries to adopt communism. The United States was very involved in most regions of the world, citing the domino theory that if a single nation outside its known sphere of influence would fall, others would follow1. Erna Paris grapples with the dilemma in the twenty first century where the rule of international law is challenged by the political power held by the United States. The treaty that set up the International Crimi nal Court categorized as war crimes acts of forced pregnancy, rape, torture and forceful recruitment of child soldiers. The United States objected this inclusion and suggested that the court should only concern itself with genocide cases. The United States, being a large military and economic power, is expected to intervene in catastrophes of humanitarian consequences. This particularly makes citizens and officials of the United States vulnerable to arrests and trials by the International criminal Court in cases of humanitarian crises. The United States, a country known to promote its interests only, knew that the International Criminal Court would expose its political vulnerability to its perceived enemies. Being a country that boasts the best political institutions, the country would become helpless in trying to protect its citizens against the International Criminal Court without appearing to violate the human rights it has always championed for. Marjorie Cohn in the book, Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang has defied the Law, examines six ways of greatest importance that the government of the United States under the presidency of George Bush defied and consequently led to the weakening of the rule of law. The first reason was the establishment of the prison in Guantanamo bay, where suspects of terrorism were held without trial. Despite the president knowing well