The impact of state policy on international treaties: A case study of Zimbabwe’s failure to ratify the Rome statute.

Abstract

This study centres on the International Criminal Court as a supranational body that affects the formulation and implementation of state foreign policy. As such, the ICC would be the major unit of analysis in this research, together with those states that have not signed the Rome Statute establishing the Court. The dissertation analyses the reasons why Zimbabwe signed but has not become a member state of the ICC through ratifying the treaty. It is fundamental to note in this research that most literature on the ICC dwells much on states that are member states. This dissertation seeks to achieve justice by focusing on the relationship of the ICC with non-member states to the Rome Statute. The major research question that the dissertation seeks to ask is the reason why Zimbabwe has a negative stance on the Court with particular reference to policy-making. The rationale behind Zimbabwe’s decision(s) on the ICC can best be explained by understanding the environment in which policy is made and formulated by the state. This dissertation is justified by the fact that it evolved from the non-academic arguments where uninformed attention had been given on the subject. The operational proposition guiding this dissertation is that failure to display impartiality by the ICC as witnessed by its neo-colonialism inclinations has by and large discouraged some countries becoming signatories of the Court. This proposition was supported through the utilisation of the Mandate System as the theoretical base underpinning this research.