1st Edition

Evaluating the Responsibility to Protect Mass Atrocity Prevention as a Consolidating Norm in International Society

By Noële Crossley Copyright 2016
    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book evaluates the extent to which the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has consolidated as a norm in international society.

    A consolidated norm in international society is defined here as a regularised pattern of behaviour that is widely accepted as appropriate within a given social context. The analysis is based on the assumption that the R2P could be regarded as a consolidated norm if it were applied consistently when genocide and other mass atrocities occur; and if international responses routinely conformed to the core principles inherent in the R2P: seeking government consent, multilateralism, prevention and regionalism. This book employs Finnemore and Sikkink’s norm lifecycle model to determine the putative norm’s degree of consolidation, with in-depth case studies of the international responses to crises in Darfur and Kenya serving to illuminate the findings. It advances the argument that, whilst the R2P had fully emerged as a prospective norm by 2005, it has not yet fully consolidated as an international norm. The R2P has been remarkably successful at pervading the international discourse but has been somewhat less successful at consistency in implementation in terms of adherence to its core principles as outlined above (the qualitative dimension of the R2P). Furthermore, it has been least successful, to date, in terms of consistency across cases in terms of resolve and tenacity. The volume concludes with a reflection on the norm's progress so far, and its prospects for further consolidation, assuming the R2P continues on its current trajectory.

    This book will be of much interest to students of the Responsibility to Protect, humanitarian intervention, international law, security studies and IR.

    1. Introduction 2. An Analytical Framework for Assessing the Consolidation of R2P as an International Norm 3. The Antecedents of the Responsibility to Protect (1945-2001) 4. The Emergence of the Responsibility to Protect as a Prospective International Norm (2000-2005) 5. Institutionalising R2P: The Responsibility to Protect Since the 2005 World Summit 6. R2P Reaction: The Responsibility to Protect and the Case of Darfur 7. R2P Prevention: Mediation in the Aftermath of Kenya’s 2007 Presidential Elections 8. The Responsibility to Protect: International Practice Since 2005 9. Conclusion: International Practice Since 2005

    Biography

    Noële Crossley holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK.