Regional security arrangements as a filter for norm diffusion: the African Union, the European Union and the responsibility to protect

Abstract

Regional security arrangements play a central role in modifying emerging norms as they travel from the global to the local level. This process of norm localization is shaped by various factors such as the characteristics of regional security cultures, corresponding resonance with the emerging norm, institutional voice opportunities, and mechanisms of framing and pruning as they are utilized by norm entrepreneurs. The article applies this analytical framework to the localization of the responsibility to protect (R2P) norm by the African Union and the European Union. Subsequently, the paper examines how localization of the R2P norm in both regions affected their reactions to the Libyan crisis in 2011. It also examines the likely ramifications that the intervention may have on the future reception of the R2P by African and European actors.

Notes

¹ A/RES/60/1, 24 October 2005, 138–139; A/63/677, 12 January 2009, 11.

² A/RES/60/1, 24 October 2005, 139.

³ A/63/677, 12 January 2009, 62.

⁴ A/66/874, 25 July 2012, 2, 20.

⁵ A/63/677, 12 January 2009, 64.

⁶ A/66/551, 11 November 2011, 6; GA/11270, 5 September 2012.

⁷ GA/11270, 5 September 2012.

⁸ GA/11270, 5 September 2012.

⁹ See the special issue on ‘European security policy: strategic culture in operation’, Contemporary Security Policy, 32:4 (2011). For the effects of the EU's strategic culture on the security policy of its member states see Meyer (2006) and Giegerich (2006).

¹⁰Official Journal C46/01, 24 February 2006, Article 37.

¹¹ S407/08, 11 December 2008, 2.

¹² Council of the EU, 10809/09, 9 June 2009, 3.

¹³ EU Presidency Statement, 23 July 2009, < http://www.eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_8901_en.htm>, accessed 15 November 2013.

¹⁴ See the compilation by the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect: < www.responsibilitytoprotect.org>, accessed 2 April 2012.

¹⁵The Economist, 15 May 2008, < www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id = 11376531>, accessed 2 April 2012.

¹⁶  < http://www.europa-eu-un.org/articles/es/article_5026_es.htm>, accessed 2 April 2012.

¹⁷ COM (2001) 211 final, 11 April 2001, 26.

¹⁸ ‘A human security doctrine for Europe 2004. The Barcelona report of the Study Group on Europe's Security Capabilities’, < http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/global/Publications/HumanSecurityDoctrine.pdf>, accessed 2 April 2012.

¹⁹ See the 20 February statement by HR Catherine Ashton: < http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_PESC-11-33_en.htm?locale = en>, accessed 2 April 2012.

²⁰ Constitutive Act of the African Union (2002), Article 4(h) and Article 4(g).

²¹ Ext/EX.CL/2 (VII) (2005), B, i.

²² Ext/EX.CL/2 (VII) (2005), B, i.

²³ PSC/PR/COMM (CCCVII), 9 January 2012, 11(ii).

²⁴ PSC/PR/COMM(CCLXI), 23 February 2011, 2, 5.

²⁵ PSC/PR/COMM.2(CCLXV), 26 April 2011, 3, 6, 8.

²⁶ Communiqué, Ad Hoc Committee on Libya, 19 March 2011.

²⁷ S/RES/1973 (2011), 2.

²⁸ PSC/PR/COMM/2 (CCXCVII), 20 October 2011, 4.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthias Dembinski

Matthias Dembinski is a member of the Executive Board of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. Email: [email protected]

Berenike Schott

Berenike Schott is a graduate student at Georgetown University. Email: [email protected]