I'm giving you a topic. Discuss.

The issue of unelected officials (in this case, judges) making decisions with potentially significant political and diplomatic implications is an interesting one, and it was central to International Criminal Court negotiations. A related issue came up in a conversation I had recently--and also in that Grist review of "The Cove" that I posted a couple of weeks ago: what is the right entity to negotiate on behalf of a population? Why are elected officials preferable? After all, they're beholden to parties, such as lobbyists, whose interests may generally differ from the population that those officials represent.