Exit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court

dc.contributor.advisorSeegers, Annette
dc.contributor.advisorJolobe, Zwelethu
dc.contributor.authorRubin, Maxine
dc.date.accessioned2023-04-14T13:46:24Z
dc.date.available2023-04-14T13:46:24Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.date.updated2023-04-14T13:43:37Z
dc.description.abstractAfrican states have been divided in their relations with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Despite these divisions, the literature on this relationship has focused on withdrawal behaviour to the neglect of other types of behaviour, such as support for the ICC. Consequently, it is unable to explain what influences the diverse behaviour. This dissertation adapts Albert Hirschman's Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (EVL) model into an International Relations model to categorise the different types of behaviour by African states and, subsequently, guide an explanation of the behaviour. Primary evidence of each African State Party's official policy position toward the ICC consisted of 208 country statements delivered between 2008 and 2018 at relevant United Nations and ICC forums. The study used discourse analysis to interpret satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the ICC in the statements and, consequently, categorise the states into one of the three behaviour groups for each year and forum. The country statement data are complemented by key informant semi-structured interviews, academic literature, news articles, and grey literature to explain the major factors influencing the behaviour of each state. Five explanatory variables were prevalent as explanations of African states' behaviour in relation to the ICC – head of state interests, domestic factors, regional politics, reputational factors, and economic factors. It was found that behaviour was caused by combinations of these variables. Broadly, exit and voice were primarily influenced by head of state interest and regional politics, whereas loyalty was influenced by reputational factors and/or economic factors. The results of this study have important implications for the study of Africa's international relations. The findings about the influence of the head of state variable demonstrated the relevance of the personalisation of power and how this affects the production of foreign policy. The heterogeneity of behaviour also challenges the usefulness of ‘Africa' as a category and highlights issues of essentialism and reductionism with the treatment of ‘Africa' as an indivisible unit of analysis, at least, regarding the withdrawal debate.
dc.identifier.apacitationRubin, M. (2022). <i>Exit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court</i>. (). ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37747en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationRubin, Maxine. <i>"Exit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court."</i> ., ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37747en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationRubin, M. 2022. Exit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court. . ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37747en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Doctoral Thesis AU - Rubin, Maxine AB - African states have been divided in their relations with the International Criminal Court (ICC). Despite these divisions, the literature on this relationship has focused on withdrawal behaviour to the neglect of other types of behaviour, such as support for the ICC. Consequently, it is unable to explain what influences the diverse behaviour. This dissertation adapts Albert Hirschman's Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (EVL) model into an International Relations model to categorise the different types of behaviour by African states and, subsequently, guide an explanation of the behaviour. Primary evidence of each African State Party's official policy position toward the ICC consisted of 208 country statements delivered between 2008 and 2018 at relevant United Nations and ICC forums. The study used discourse analysis to interpret satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the ICC in the statements and, consequently, categorise the states into one of the three behaviour groups for each year and forum. The country statement data are complemented by key informant semi-structured interviews, academic literature, news articles, and grey literature to explain the major factors influencing the behaviour of each state. Five explanatory variables were prevalent as explanations of African states' behaviour in relation to the ICC – head of state interests, domestic factors, regional politics, reputational factors, and economic factors. It was found that behaviour was caused by combinations of these variables. Broadly, exit and voice were primarily influenced by head of state interest and regional politics, whereas loyalty was influenced by reputational factors and/or economic factors. The results of this study have important implications for the study of Africa's international relations. The findings about the influence of the head of state variable demonstrated the relevance of the personalisation of power and how this affects the production of foreign policy. The heterogeneity of behaviour also challenges the usefulness of ‘Africa' as a category and highlights issues of essentialism and reductionism with the treatment of ‘Africa' as an indivisible unit of analysis, at least, regarding the withdrawal debate. DA - 2022_ DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - political studies LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - 2022 T1 - Exit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court TI - Exit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37747 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/37747
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationRubin M. Exit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court. []. ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Political Studies, 2022 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37747en_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Political Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.subjectpolitical studies
dc.titleExit, voice, and loyalty: an analysis of African states' behaviour in relation to the international criminal court
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationlevelPhD
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