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Explaining public opinion on international criminal justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2014

James Meernik
James Meernik*
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Political Science, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA Director, Castleberry Peace Institute, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA
*
*E-mail: meernik@unt.edu
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Abstract

Despite the fact that international courts have proven popular in the last 20 years, systematic and empirical inquiry to determine whether they are beginning to realize their objectives is a fairly recent phenomenon. Support among the publics in the affected countries is critical to their success for, as deGuzman writes, ‘… the globalization of communications increasingly means that an institution’s legitimacy depends on the opinions of ordinary citizens around the world’. I develop a theory of public opinion regarding international criminal justice and test it on support for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), among peoples of the former Yugoslavia. I contend that support for the ICTY is filtered through individuals’ perceptions of the past, present, and future. As one’s beliefs about whether conditions are good or improving grow more positive, such positive perceptions are generalized to extend to international institutions that play a major role in shaping those conditions. In addition, I argue that support for the ICTY is strongly influenced by an individual’s views of the legitimacy and morality of the law. Ethnicity is also important in differentiating levels of support across the peoples of the former Yugoslavia.

Keywords

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslaviapublic opinionjustice
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , November 2015 , pp. 567 - 591
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2014 

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