Commissioner Gordon: (Speaking of Harvey
Dent): “Not the hero we deserved, but the
hero we needed.”
Batman is my favorite superhero. First, at his core he is just a man, ok a
billionaire with a big chip on his shoulder, but he isn’t an alien (Superman), god
(Thor), and he wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider (do I really need to say
it?). But more than his humanity I enjoy
Batman’s relationship with Gotham City.
Gotham is a complex environment rotting
with corruption and crippled by inadequate government and police, while innocent
civilians hang in the balance. In these
ways Batman’s world is not unlike our own.
Too many people suffer horrible injustices at the hands of corrupt
leaders who act in their own interest rather than the greater good. Although they have the capacity to alleviate
this suffering, organizations like the UN, EU, and NATO don’t. Not because they are blind to the plight of
these people, but because they are handicapped by our system of international governance
and the rules by which international actors ‘must’ play.
Enter Batman. While the police are unable to protect the
people of Gotham, Batman is not bound by the same rules of conduct. He doesn’t need a warrant to kick in the door
of a mob boss’ home, he doesn’t have to work with corrupt colleagues, and his
jurisdiction is limitless. Batman goes
where he is needed, acts in the best interest of the common good, and is gone
in the blink of an eye.
Under the cover of darkness and shadows,
Batman protects the people of Gotham, coming and going as quickly and silently
as his namesake. On the other hand Harvey
Dent, Gotham’s District Attorney, thwarts Gotham’s criminals and stamps out
corruption in the light of day. He was
elected by the people of Gotham and acts through the transparent legal
system. Needless to say the symbolism
behind Harvey Dent’s nickname, Gotham’s White Knight, and Batman’s, the Dark
Knight, speaks volumes about this relationship.
So what are the equivalent of Batman and
Harvey Dent in our world? Legally, the
International Criminal Court (ICC) is the closest thing we have to an
international legal system which brings war criminals to justice. Yet this organization has extremely limited capacity
to pursue or detain suspects on its own, instead it relies on nations to arrest
suspects and transfer them to The Hague.
As for a Batman parallel, the current use of drones by the Obama
administration seems closest. When the
CIA asks for the President’s approval for a drone strike, the request is based
on significant evidence. However, there
is no legal process through which suspected terrorists are tried and
convicted. It is this lack of due
process that causes much of the controversy surrounding the targeted drone
killings.
How do we (if we even should),
progress to having a Harvey Dent-esque ICC?
This organization would require a police force capable of pursuing
criminals across international borders, like a stronger INTERPOL. However as the formation and evolution of the
European Union has shown, Nations are often reluctant to reduce their own
authority over domestic affairs.
Empowering the ICC to investigate and arrest individuals would make it a
government organization. After all, a
government is the organization with a monopoly on the use of force.
“You
either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
-Harvey Dent and Batman
Our world needs Harvey Dent; an
organization to not only issue warrants and try criminals like Joseph Kony and President al-Bashir, but to
physically go to Central Africa and Sudan to arrest them. Even if it remains “A court of last resort,” acting
only in cases where the presiding national court fails to, such an organization
is many years away, if it will ever exist.
In the absence of this organization, our
world deserves a Batman to hunt down those who would commit genocide, crimes
against humanity, and war crimes. I am
not saying Obama’s use of drones is the perfect embodiment of this idea. But between nothing and American drone
strikes, I’ll take the option that causes terrorists to lose sleep.
I think this exchange from the end of
The Dark Knight sums up my feelings on the matter. Leaders of the world have to be critical of a
program that kills specific people without due process. Yet on some level many of them undoubtedly
feel that a world with fewer terrorists is better than a world with more. So long as the individuals targeted through
this program are known terrorists guilty of horrible crimes against humanity, I
think they will suffer the program to continue until a better option
comes.
Son: “Why
is he running dad?”
Commissioner Gordon: “Because we have to chase him.”
Son: “He
didn’t do anything wrong.”
Commissioner Gordon: “Because he is the hero Gotham deserves, but
not the one it needs right now. So we’ll
hunt him, because he can take it.
Because he is not a hero, he is a silent guardian, a watchful protector,
a dark knight.”
