Rough Justice

Reviews / Votes

Excellent. * The Wall Street Journal * One of - if not, the - most significant contributions to understanding relationships between states and the ICC in recent years. * Journal of International Criminal Justice * The best account so far of the trajectory of the ICC from its optimistic origins to the more constrained court of today.... Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book should be of interest to the nonspecialist as well. * Ethics & International Affairs * Energetic, well-written, and genuinely informative. * International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis * Excellent. * Texas Law Review * A rigorously researched and credible piece of work with the readability and up-to-date feeling of a blog.... Rough Justice is an excellent work on the recent history of the ICC, succinct and subtle in its analysis. * Berkeley Journal of International Law * Is the International Criminal Court one of humanity's great achievements or just another futile multilateral organization? Many see it as an important step towards making the world more just, while several nations - including the United States - consider it a threat. What is it? While the answers are controversial, the facts about the Court are not, and in this extraordinary book, David Bosco gives us the history and the facts and smartly guides us on how to think about an institution that may change the world. A must read. * Moises Naim, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of The End of Power
* This is the most realistic and insightful book ever written on the ICC, one that surprises in showing how much the ICC has accomplished since its founding, and how integral the United States has become to its success. * Jack Goldsmith, Harvard Law School
* David Bosco has produced the first balanced and sophisticated assessment of the International Criminal Court's opening decade. Blending legal analysis and political science, he analyzes both the Court's power and the continuing constraints on that power, in a way that is likely to frame both scholarly and policy debates about the Court in its second decade. A significant achievement. * Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University and President and CEO, New America Foundation
* David Bosco's lucid and thoughtful analysis of how the major powers try (and sometimes succeed) to control or marginalize the International Criminal Court should be required reading for anyone interested in the Court and international institutions. As in Five to Rule Them All, Bosco expertly makes his insightful scholarly analysis appealing to a broader audience. * Erik Voeten, Edmund E. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
* In this sober and clear-eyed account of the ICC, David Bosco expertly shows the reasons for the United States' evolving and more accepting attitude toward the court. Based on interviews with many of the key players, Bosco has woven a compelling and well-written rendering of the evolving relationship between the United States and the ICC. * Michael Barnett, The George Washington University
* David Bosco's aim, namely to reveal the mutual accommodation that exists between the major powers and the court, is rich in theory, practice, and the kind of eloquent insights he is well known for in his Foreign Policy column. If you want to know how the International Criminal Court has launched its quest for accountability of leaders charged with atrocity crimes and how the United States and other key governments have influenced the Court's destiny, then this is the book you have to read. * David Scheffer, Northwestern University and former U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues * A comprehensive and highly readable history of the International Criminal Court from its roots in Nuremburg through the Rome Statute in 1998 through the first decade of the Court's operations, with a particular emphasis on the Court's sometimes strained relations with the United States and other major powers. A must read for anyone interested in the ICC. * John Bellinger, Legal Adviser to the State Department, 2005-2009
* The clash of idealism and reality in international relations, and the limits of achieving justice, are well limned in Bosco's accessible history of the International Criminal Court (ICC) . . . The author does an especially fine job of outlining the United States' evolving relationship with the tribunal, which could potentially subject U.S. leaders to criminal charges. Bosco's conclusion * that 'the ICC has been significantly constrained by major-power politics'will surprise no one, but his measured analysis is a major contribution to the study of the issue."
Publishers Weekly
* A comprehensive, well-documented, and clearly written analysis of an important international institution. * Library Journal * David Bosco's Rough Justice is one of - if not, the - most significant contributions to understanding relationships between states and the ICC in recent years. Impressively researched, accessibly composed and cogently argued, Bosco skilfully lays out a political history of the Court that not only elucidates why and how powerful states engage with the ICC but also how the Court manages its relations with the states upon which its legitimacy and effectiveness depend ... Both liberal and realist oriented scholars should read Bosco's sophisticated account of the ICC. * Mark Kersten, Journal of International Criminal Justice *