Means to an End: U.S. Interest in the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court remains a sensitive issue in American foreign policy circles. It was agreed to at the tail end of the Clinton administration, but with serious reservations. In 2002 the Bush administration ceremoniously reversed course and ""unsigned"" the Rome Statute that had established the Court. But recent developments in Washington and elsewhere indicate that the United States may be moving toward de facto acceptance of the Court and active cooperation in its mission. In Means to an End: U.S. Interest in the International Criminal Court, Lee Feinstein and Tod Lindberg reassess the relationship of the United States and the ICC, as well as American policy toward international justice more broadly. The authors argue that the United States should actively support the ICC for the simple reason that it serves U.S. interests while being consistent with the values that America publicly espouses. The authors also show how participation could be beneficial in terms of national security and foreign policy generally, and they make the moral case for acceptance as well. They evaluate the ICC's potential to advance international justice and how American participation can improve that potential.

About the Author :
Lee Feinstein is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. A former senior Defense and State department official, he was Hillary Clinton's national security director during her presidential campaign and, previously, deputy director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of Darfur and Beyond (Council on Foreign Relations, 2007).Tod Lindberg is the editor of Policy Review and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has served in senior staff positions on the Genocide Prevention Task Force and the U.S. Institute of Peace Task Force on the United Nations. He is also the author of The Political Teachings of Jesus (HarperOne, 2007).

Review :
" Means to an End is a well-researched and timely contribution to the debate over America's proper relationship to the International Criminal Court. Rigorous in its arguments and humane in its conclusions, the volume is an indispensable guide for scholars and policymakers alike." - Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State "With this volume, the authors make an important contribution to the ongoing debate over U.S. involvement with the International Criminal Court. As our country continues to seek ways in which to hold perpetrators of atrocities to account, their analysis and argument will play a key role in the thinking in this area." - Senator John McCain, (R-Ariz.) "Two of our nation's leading authorities on preventing atrocities have joined to make a convincing argument that closer cooperation with the International Criminal Court will help promote human rights and the values on which America was founded." - Angelina Jolie, co-chair, Jolie-Pitt Foundation "Because so much of our political commentary at present is overheated and inflammatory, calm, reasoned analysis often seems in short supply. One turns to Means to an End with genuine appreciation for the reasoned wisdom on display. Whether one favors a closer relationship between the ICC and the United States or not, the authors rehearse the pros and cons in a compelling, fair-minded way that earns the reader's respect. Anyone interested in whether the ICC as presently constituted fulfills or violates U.S interests should read this book." - Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, University of Chicago