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Leviathan's Rage: State Sovereignty and Crimes Against Humanity In University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 2-2009 Leviathan’S Rage: State Sovereignty And Crimes Against Humanity In The Late Twentieth Century Cecil Bryant Lawson University of Massachusetts - Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Part of the International Law Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Lawson, Cecil Bryant, "Leviathan’S Rage: State Sovereignty And Crimes Against Humanity In The Late Twentieth Century" (2009). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 49. https://doi.org/10.7275/5645858 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/49 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LEVIATHAN’S RAGE: STATE SOVEREIGNTY AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY A Dissertation Presented by CECIL BRYANT LAWSON Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2009 Political Science © Copyright by Cecil Bryant Lawson 2009 All Rights Reserved LEVIATHAN’S RAGE: STATE SOVEREIGNTY AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY A Dissertation Presented By CECIL BRYANT LAWSON Approved as to style and content by: _____________________________________ Roberto Alejandro, Chair _____________________________________ M. J. Peterson, Member _____________________________________ Joan Cocks, Member ______________________________________ John Hird, Chair Department of Political Science DEDICATION To the memory of my wife ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Roberto Alejandro, for his guidance, patience, and always thoughtful comments along the way. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, M. J. Peterson and Joan Cocks, for their equally important contributions to this dissertation. Thanks are also due to Patricia J. Mills, Nicholas Xenos, former committee chairs, and to Eric Reeves, former outside reader, who helped me to figure out the proper direction for this dissertation. This was truly a team effort. I want to thank my parents, who believed enough in me to encourage my career in graduate school and who helped me in numerous ways, financial, emotional, and spiritual, through the years it took to bring this dissertation to fruition. I also want to express gratitude for my “other family,” the McGuires, who helped me in the dark time that I shared with them. A special thanks is due to a good friend, Barbara Elsner, whose guidance showed me the way out of many dead ends, both in my work and my life. Finally, I want to thank my late wife, Mary Jo McGuire, whose love, long- suffering, and persistence helped me to see this dissertation through to the end, even after she was gone. Her spirit lives in these pages. v ABSTRACT LEVIATHAN’S RAGE: STATE SOVEREIGNTY AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY FEBRUARY 2009 CECIL BRYANT LAWSON, B. A. MOREHEAD STATE UNIVERSITY M. A., UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY Ph. D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Robert Alejandro This dissertation explores the relationship between state sovereignty and major instances of crimes against humanity committed in the latter 20 th century. In order to examine this dynamics of this relationship, the author analyzes the history and theory of the concept of sovereignty and examines five case studies of crimes against humanity: Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, Argentina during the military junta from 1976 to 1983, the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda in 1994, and the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan. State sovereign power is shown to be an important facilitating factor in these atrocities as well as a major source of contention during the civil conflicts in which these crimes have taken place. International efforts to control or mitigate the damaging effects of state sovereignty, including humanitarian intervention, the International Criminal Court, and the promotion of democratization, are shown to be largely ineffectual and often end up strengthening state sovereignty. vi CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 2. RISE OF LEVIATHAN ..................................................................................................8 The Political Foundations of European Christendom ..........................................................9 The Papal Revolution .........................................................................................................12 Opposition to Pope and Empire .........................................................................................18 The Modern Era .................................................................................................................23 Colonialism ........................................................................................................................28 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................31 3. NAMING THE BEAST ...............................................................................................35 Sovereignty and Monarchy ................................................................................................36 Bodin ..................................................................................................................................36 Grotius................................................................................................................................43 Hobbes ...............................................................................................................................49 Popular Sovereignty ...........................................................................................................55 Locke..................................................................................................................................56 Rousseau ............................................................................................................................58 The American Founding ....................................................................................................60 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................62 4. CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................................71 Introduction ........................................................................................................................71 Cambodia ...........................................................................................................................77 Argentina............................................................................................................................84 Yugoslavia .........................................................................................................................92 Rwanda ............................................................................................................................106 Sudan................................................................................................................................116 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................139 vii 5. TAMING LEVIATHAN? ...........................................................................................155 Introduction ......................................................................................................................155 Humanitarian Intervention ...............................................................................................157 The International Criminal Court.....................................................................................162 Democratization ...............................................................................................................167 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................170 6. CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................173 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................178 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION While it may seem like I am stating the obvious, we need to ponder this: large- scale crimes against humanity have become a common occurrence within my own lifetime (I was born in 1971). Over past few decades, we have witnessed the last paroxysms of the Cold War – détente, renewed conflict with the “Evil Empire,” the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its satellite allies; the rise of a “new world order,” heralding globalization
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