Chapter 4 > International Cooperation > International Treaties and Agreements

U.S. Report - pdf version Leaders Questionnaire - pdf version Public Questionnaire - pdf version

International Treaties and Agreements

Substantial majorities of Americans support several new international treaties and agreements, including the International Criminal Court, the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the treaty banning land mines, that have been controversial among U.S. policymakers and opinion leaders (see Figure 4-6).

International Criminal Court

Especially prominent is the controversy over the newly forming International Criminal Court, which the Bush administration has strongly opposed. When simply asked if the United States should participate in the
agreement to establish an International Criminal Court that would try individuals for war crimes, genocide, or crimes against humanity if their own country won’t try them, 71% say the United States should participate, while only 22% are opposed. In order to determine whether this response would be significantly different if respondents heard arguments for and against it, including the key objection voiced by U.S. officials, a separate sample was asked the following:

"A permanent International Criminal Court has been established by the UN to try individuals suspected of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Some say the United States should not support the court because trumped up charges may be brought against Americans, for example, U.S. soldiers who use force in the course of a peacekeeping operation. Others say that the U.S. should support the court because the world needs a better way to prosecute war criminals, many of whom go unpunished today. Do you think the U.S. should or should not support the permanent International Criminal Court?"

In response to this question, support for the ICC was only slightly lower, at 65%, with 28% opposed.

Kyoto Agreement on Global Warming

Another recent international agreement that has been prominent in the news is the Kyoto Protocol to address the problem of global warming. The agreement has been ratified or assented to by 94 countries but not the United States. When respondents were simply asked whether or not the United States should participate in the Kyoto agreement to reduce global warming, 64% said that the U.S. should participate. A separate sample was presented arguments for and against the treaty in the following way:

"An international treaty calls on the U.S. and other industrialized nations to cut back on their emissions from power plants and cars in order to reduce global warming, also known as the greenhouse effect. Some people say this would hurt the U.S. economy and is based on uncertain science. Others say this is needed to protect the environment and could create new business opportunities. What’s your view—do you think the United States should or should not join this treaty requiring less emissions from U.S. power plants and cars?"

In response to this question, support actually goes up, with 70% saying that the United States should join the treaty and 25% saying it should not.

This is consistent with the view that global warming is a critical threat to vital U.S. interests (held by 46%) or an important but not critical threat (33%). Sixty-six percent of Americans also say that improving the global environment should be a very important foreign policy goal—up 13 points from 1998. International environmental groups are given a warm average rating of 57 degrees on the feeling thermometer.

The public’s concern about the global environment and its support for the Kyoto agreement may help explain why they give the Bush administration—which has opposed the treaty—a remarkably low rating for its handling of the problem of global warming. Only 25% say the administration's handling of global warming is excellent (6%) or good (19%), while 55% say it is fair (33%) or poor (32%). This is the lowest level of approval for any of the 14 policy areas evaluated.

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
There is an even higher level of public support for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty—a treaty that the United States has signed but that has not been ratified by the Senate. Asked about the treaty that would “prohibit nuclear weapon test explosions worldwide,” an overwhelming 81% say that the United States should participate in the treaty. This is consistent with the extremely high priority Americans place on stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Fully 90% say that preventing the spread of nuclear weapons should be a very important goal of U.S. foreign policy goal, putting nonproliferation in second place (behind only combating international terrorism) in the ranking of 20 foreign policy goals.

Land Mines Treaty
A very large majority of Americans also support the United States participating in the treaty that “bans all use of land mines,” another agreement that has been rejected by U.S. policymakers. Seventy-five percent say they favor participating, with only 19% opposed.