Correlation between the International Criminal Court, Iraq and the game of power

Lately Romania seems to have had to choose sides between the United States of America (further US) and the European Union (further EU). The reason for this circumstance lies in the power competition developed between these two international actors in several issue areas.

In order to understand the country s position and, thus the choices that it made we started with the question How can Romania s choice be explained? It must be made clear from the outset that this paper is not merely a foreign policy analysis. Rather it intends to delineate a pattern of behaviour that could be reproduced in time and under similar circumstances. It is my belief that the reasons that determined Romania s decision could also be accountable for similar response coming from other countries found in the same situation. Hence, the paradigm in which this research falls into is international relations theory. The hypothesis on which this research paper is based upon is that when involved in a power competition the reasonable option for Romania is to bandwagon, i.

e. to join the stronger side. However the competition that ensued is marked by the different aspects of power employed: while the US relies on the authority provided by their prestige as a great power, the EU stresses the authority endorsed by legal obligations for the states under the common EU legislation (the acquis communautaire). The dichotomy appears clearly in the way both the US and the EU try to influence the choices that Romania made.

In short, the argument presented here relies on two conditions that explain why the US was successful in attracting countries like Romania on its side. On the one hand, the emphasis is on the structure of the international system, and its consequent mechanisms of control, which influences all member states, some of them to a higher degree than others. On the other hand, Romania s own perception determined it to bandwagon, instead of complying with the legal obligations that it assumed in relation with the EU. Such statement entails a short elucidation. The first part of the argument that will be developed here points towards a systemic theory of international relations, one in which structure holds primacy over agents, i.

e. states, Romania included. The second assumption seems to turn the first one upside down, by placing agent s actions at the forefront. This is however not the case, as there is no place for an agent-structure debate in this paper. Instead, a systemic theory will be applied on account of its greater explanatory power.

Yet such a theory is not a holistic one, therefore, some elements must also be added so that the general explanation can become relevant in particular cases. Currently there are two main schools of thought that compete with each other in the realm of international relations theory. The first school of thought, best known as neorealism (or structural realism) maintains a materialistic perspective about the nature of international relations. ...

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