Though some of you are likely to differ with this point of view sharply. I question whether indictment of President Milosevic during the bombing campaign over Kosovo was an appropriate exercise of judicial restraint. Once in a while, the moral force of a bare decision may be enough to command respect for international law and order, but it can not be routine. Bare decisions command respect only when there is a regular possibility of actual enforcement through coercive means. But I do not want to leave you with the impression that I think that only raw force matters in international law.
Courts exist to be refuges for the powerless.
If you own a plantation or are a warlord in a failed state, you do not need courts. You only need courts if you may be victimized by the plantation owner or the warlord. So the establishment of courts and the commitment to make them effective is fundamentally a commitment to equalizing power, economically and politically. Moreover, international law is powerful rhetoric. People talk much about the need for political will in international affairs.