Document Type
Article
Disciplines
International Law
Abstract
A common view of the George W. Bush Administration is that it is disdainful of international law and international legal institutions. The litany of the Administration's apparently unilateralist postures, used to bolster this contention, is familiar: a deep antagonism toward the International Criminal Court; the failure to participate in negotiations seeking to address global climate change through the Kyoto Protocol; a lack of respect for international humanitarian law by refusing to hold hearings for prisoners held at Guantdnamo, as required by the Third Geneva Convention;' the failure to follow international law by using force "preemptively" against Iraq;2 and the failure to accept and implement important international human rights treaties.3 These postures suggest that the Bush Administration either rejects cooperative approaches to international problems, which could provide legitimacy to any resulting solutions, or adopts cooperative approaches only as a last resort, preferring instead to use unilateral, coercive strategies. According to many who note the Bush Administration's unilateralist policies, the Administration subscribes to realist theory, which stresses the central importance of power on the actions of self-interested states." A realist conceives of international legal rules and institutions as being "mere ('epiphenomenal') artifacts of the underlying interest and power relationships"' that do not independently affect state behavior.
Recommended Citation
Noyes, John E., "American Hegemony, U.S. Political Leaders, and General International Law" (2004). Connecticut Journal of International Law. 418.
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/cjil/418
Accessibility Requirements
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