On the 17th March 2023, the ICC announced that it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The warrant requires any member state of the ICC to arrest the Russian President if he comes under their jurisdiction. However, the ICC has many limits. So what are its strengths and weaknesses and is Vladimir Putin ever likely to see a jail cell in The Hague?
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 24th February 2022 was an egregious breach of international law. It has resulted in a humanitarian crisis in Europe not seen since World War Two and has already taken the lives of countless innocent civilians. In addition, it has raised tensions in Europe to a level not seen since the Cold War. The Western and Russian narratives of why the war started are predictably different. In terms of studying A-Level Politics, it is a chance to consider whether or not the realist principle of the security dilemma played a role in the outbreak of the war, or if this was at most a pre-text for an action that President Putin wanted to take anyway.
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An IGO is an intergovernmental organisation. This means that it is an organisation made up of sovereign states who agree to cooperate with each other on international issues. Importantly, unlike a supranational organisation, member states do not cede any of their own sovereignty in order to join. Since 1945 there has been a significant growth of IGOs. Notable examples are:
However, the newest IGO is the European Political Community (EPC). So what is it, why was it formed and what purpose will it serve?
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