The ICTY, its Constituency, and the Politics: The Battle for Hearts and Minds

Abstract

Based on the seven surveys we conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo, we explore the views about the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).Our findings indicate a shift in public opinion concerning the ICTY. Compared to the pre-2003 surveys, the post-2003 surveys reveal substantially more negative attitudes toward the ICTY. The results of our multivariate analyses suggest that the views about the fairness of ICTY decisions, together with the views of procedural fairness and the political impact on the ICTY, are crucial in shaping the overall views of the ICTY and that, perhaps surprisingly, in such a multivariate setting, ethnicity and victimization status do not appear to matter.