The International Criminal Court and the rebels’ commitment problem

This article argues against the common view that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prevents peace since rebels will not accept accountability. In the presence of an international criminal authority, accountability may be unavoidable. This is true for rebels, but also for state agents. Should the government renege on agreed provisions, it risks ICC attention on its own actors, including into the future. In this way, the ICC functions as a permanent third-party guarantor of the provisions and reduces the commitment problem for the rebels, conditional on certain circumstances. A case study of Colombia finds support for the theoretical proposals.This work was supported by the AXA Research Fund [2016-SE-POSTDOC] and Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca [2014-ICIP

The enabling factor: the influence of US-EU cooperation on UN peace operations

The article analyzes the influence of US-EU cooperation on the UN decision-making process in the area of peace operations and its impact in the period 1991-2008. The article claims that US-EU cooperation transforms the positional power of the US, the EU and its member states into a coalition with dominant influence in the area of UN peace operations and becomes an enabling factor for the authorization of UN peace operations.The article analyzes the influence of US-EU cooperation on the UN decision-making process in the area of peace operations and its impact in the period 1991 - 2008. The article claims that US-EU cooperation transforms the positional power of the US, the EU and its member states into a coalition with dominant influence in the area of UN peace operations and becomes an enabling factor for the authorization of UN peace operations