The Moral Untouchability of the Responsibility to Protect

Abstract

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a doctrine motivated by good intentions. Yet an overriding concern with the successful consolidation of R2P as a norm, as well as the institutionalisation of R2P with academic and policy circles, has led to an excessive focus on the doctrine itself, rather than the atrocities meant to be motivating it. These limitations and shortcomings are examined and subsequently worked through in reference to the 2011 Libyan intervention. It is argued there should be less concern with norm development, and more explicit engagement with the responsibilities that come with supporting the doctrine.