Oumar Ba is a PhD candidate in the department of political science, studying International Relations. His research interests lie at the intersection between the politics of international justice, states’ interests, and the global governance of atrocity crimes. His dissertation titled “Outsourcing Justice: Africa and the Politics of the International Criminal Court (ICC)” argues that although African states have been socialized in engaging with international courts and integrating human rights normative discourse and practices, a careful analysis of the engagement with the ICC shows that such socialization is embedded in strategic calculations from the states. These strategic calculations take into consideration the cost and benefits of such engagements in deciding the extent of and the limits to compliance and cooperation with the ICC and the adoption of norms of international criminal justice.
His study focuses on four main issues that stem from the functioning of the ICC and its relationship with states: self-referrals, complementarity, compliance, and domestic politics. To do so, he conducted an in-depth analysis of four ICC situations in Africa, each one of them particularly highlighting one issue area: Uganda (self-referrals), Kenya (compliance), Libya (complementarity), and Côte d’Ivoire (domestic politics).
Oumar has conducted fieldwork research in the Netherlands, Kenya, and northern Uganda. His research has been funded by the Department of Political Science, the Center for African Studies, the UF Graduate School, and a David L. Boren fellowship.