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Abstract
The 2005 World Summit led to the unanimous declaration that all states have a responsibility to protect (R2P) their own population from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanities, and ethnic cleansing. Furthermore, it was agreed that, should a state manifestly fail, the international community would take over this responsibility. Despite this seemingly broad agreement of the R2P 10 years ago, more recent events in Libya and Syria have highlighted the ongoing contestation of R2P. Analysing the discourse within the UN Security Council on Libya and Syria between 2011 and early 2015, this article holds that the ongoing contestation is understandable through a critical constructivist framework, and that furthermore R2P, despite all criticism, can be credited with opening discursive spaces in which a politics of protection aimed at individual human beings, becomes possible.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to my colleague Jan Wilkens for providing valuable feedback on an earlier version of this article. The article has also greatly profited from discussions at the ISA 2015 Workshop ‘The Responsibility to Protect at Ten', organized by Phil Orchard and Jason Ralph. James Pattison, Jason Ralph, and Adrian Gallagher have also provided feedback on an earlier version of this article, for which I am grateful. I am also thankful for the discussions and comments from all participants at the ISA workshop. The responsibility for the article remains of course with me. The research on which this article is based is part of an ongoing PhD project at the University of Hamburg, entitled ‘The individual human being in international relations: prosecution, protection, and killing.'
Notes on contributor
Sassan Gholiagha is researcher at the Chair of Political Science, especially Global Governance at the University of Hamburg, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Social Science. He works on IR Theory, constructivism, norms research, R2P, the ICC, and the use of drones.
Notes
1 Alex J. Bellamy, ‘Whither the Responsibility to Protect? Humanitarian Intervention and the 2005 World Summit’, Ethics & International Affairs 20, no. 2 (2006): 143–169; Ekkehard Strauss, The Emperor's New Clothes? The United Nations and the Implementation of the Responsibility to Protect (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2009).
2 United Nations, ‘Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit’ no. A/RES/60/1 (2005). http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/487/60/PDF/N0548760.pdf (accessed August 19, 2010)
3 Ibid., §139.
4 Jennifer M. Welsh, ‘Norm Contestation and the Responsibility to Protect’, Global Responsibility to Protect 5, no. 4 (2013): 365–396, 384.
5 Bellamy, ‘Whither the Responsibility to Protect’, 143.
6 David Chandler, ‘The R2P Is Dead, Long Live the R2P’, International Peacekeeping 22, no. 1 (2015): 1–5.
7 Antje Wiener, The Invisible Constitution of Politics. Contested Norms and International Encounters (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 202; Antje Wiener and Uwe Puetter, ‘The Quality of Norms is What Actors Make of It: Constructivist Research on Norms', Journal of International Law and International Relations 5 no. 1 (2009), 6.
8 As part of this discourse I conducted interviews in March and April of 2014 in New York, with a range of actors from NGOs, diplomatic missions, and from within the UN. In accordance with agreements with those interviewed, all interviewees remain anonymous. The interviews are labelled as A1 through to A9. The audio recording and the transcripts of all interviews are on file with me. If a reference is made to a specific part of the interview, I use the line numbers within the transcript.
9 I follow the unwritten convention that ‘international relations' refers to the field of studies, while International Relations or IR refers to the discipline within political science concerned with international relations.
10 UNSC, ‘Resolution 688’ (1991), United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/596/24/IMG/NR059624.pdf (accessed 2 October 2014)
11 Nicholas J. Wheeler, Saving Strangers – Humanitarian Intervention in International Society (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 139–171.
12 UNSC, ‘Resolution 794’ (1992), United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N92/772/11/PDF/N9277211.pdf (accessed October 2, 2014)
13 Christian Tomuschat, Die Rechtmäßigkeit der Resolution 1973 (2011) des UN-Sicherheitsrates in Libyen: Missbrauch der Responsibility to Protect?, ed. Gerhard Beestermöller (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2014), 17, my translation.
14 UNSC, ‘Resolution 794’ (1992)., United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N92/772/11/PDF/N9277211.pdf (accessed 2 October 2014).
15 Wheeler, Saving Strangers, 185.
16 Alex J. Bellamy Global Politics and The Responsibility to Protect (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2011), 5; Karen E. Smith, Genocide and the Europeans (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 140, 147; Wheeler, Saving Strangers, 188–200.
17 Brian Orend “Post-intervention”, in The Ethics of Armed Humanitarian Intervention, ed. Don E. Scheid (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 224–242; Smith, Genocide and the Europeans, 179.
18 Wheeler, Saving Strangers, 202–219.
19 UNSC, ‘Resolution 819’ (1993), United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N93/221/90/IMG/N9322190.pdf. April 16, 1993 (accessed October 2, 2014)
20 UNSC, ‘Resolution 925’ (1994)., United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N94/244/54/PDF/N9424454.pdf. June 8, 1994 (accessed October 2, 2014)
21 Wheeler, Saving Strangers, 227–335; Smith, Genocide and the Europeans, 173–176.
22 Smith, Genocide and the Europeans, 154–167.
23 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in United Nations Treaty Series, ed. United Nations.
24 Case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; Anthony F. Lang Jr., ‘Punishing Genocide: A Critical Reading of the International Court of Justice’, in Accountability for Collective Wrongdoing, ed. Richard Vernon and Tracey Issacs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 92–118.
25 Smith, Genocide and the Europeans, 105–141.
26 UNSC, ‘Resolution 819’ (1993), United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N93/221/90/IMG/N9322190.pdf. April 16, 1993 (accessed October 2, 2014)
27 Smith, Genocide and the Europeans, 123–129; Wheeler, Saving Strangers, 253–255.
28 Lothar Brock, ‘Normative Integration und kollektive Handlungskompetenz auf internationaler Ebene’, Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 6 no. 2 (1999): 323–347, 323, my translation.
29 NATO, ‘NATO's role in relation to the conflict in Kosovo’ (2015). http://www.nato.int/kosovo/history.htm. July 15, 1999 (accessed April 24, 2015).
30 It is contested, whether the acts of violence in Kosovo did amount to genocide (Smith, Genocide and the Europeans, 188–202; Anthony F. Lang Jr. ‘Conflicting Rules: Global Constitutionalism and the Kosovo Intervention’, Journal of Intervention and State Building 3, no.2 (2009): 185–204, 196.
31 Karen E. Smith, Genocide and the Europeans, 183–184.
32 Ibid., 184–186.
33 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1199’ (1998), United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N98/279/96/PDF/N9827996.pdf. 23.09.19984 (accessed 2 October 2014).
34 Christine Gray, International Law and the Use of Force (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 40.
35 Nicholas J. Wheeler, ‘The Humanitarian Responsibility of Sovereignty: Explaining the Development of a New Norm of Military Intervention for Humanitarian Purposes in International Society’, in Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations, ed. Jennifer M. Welsh (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) 29–52, 44.
36 T. J. Farer, Humanitarian Intervention Before and After 9/11: Legality and Legitimacy in Humanitarian Intervention: Ethic, Legal and Political Dilemmas, ed. J. L. Holzgrefe and Robert O. Keohane (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 53–89, 70; M. Byers and Simon Chesterman, ‘Changing the Rules About the Rules? Unilateral Humanitarian Intervention and the Future of International Law’, in ibid. 177–203, 184; Gray, International Law and the Use of Force, 35.
37 Farer, Humanitarian Intervention Before and After 9/11, 68.
38 Wheeler, ‘The Humanitarian Responsibility of Sovereignty’, 36.
39 Brock, ‘Normative Integration und kollektive Handlungskompetenz’, 323, emphasis in original, translation by author.
40 Andreas von Arnauld, ‘Souveränität und responsibility to protect’, Die Friedenswarte: Journal of International Peace and Organization 84 no. 1 (2009), 16.
41 Martha Finnemore, ‘Constructing Norms of Humanitarian Intervention’, in The Culture of National Security. Norms and Identity in World Politics, ed. Peter J. Katzenstein (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996): 153–185, 184; Wheeler, ‘The Humanitarian Responsibility of Sovereignty’, 48; Maja Zehfuß, ‘Constructivism and Identity: A Dangerous Liaison’, European Journal of International Relations 7 no. 3 (2001), 331.
42 This tension has been discussed in detail in the literature, Brock, ‘Normative Integration und kollektive Handlungskompetenz’; Lothar Brock, ‘Dilemmata des internationalen Schutzes von Menschen vor innerstaatlicher Gewalt. Ein Ausblick’; von Arnauld, ‘Souveränität und responsibility to protect’; and Sassan Gholiagha ‘Die Responsibility to Protect und Souveränität’ in Der Begriff der Souveränität in der transnationalen Konstellation, ed. Christian Volk and Friederike Kuntz (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2014): 198–214.
43 Kofi Annan, ‘Two Concepts of Sovereignty’, The Economist., September 18, 1999.
44 Ibid., 81.
45 Bellamy, ‘Whither the Responsibility to Protect?’, 143.
46 For a detailed analysis of the term ‘individual sovereignty’ and its analytical use today see Gholiagha ‘Die Responsibility to Protect’.
47 F. M. Deng et al. Sovereignty as Responsibility: Conflict Management in Africa (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1996).
48 Alex J. Bellamy, Responsibility to Protect – The Global Effort to End Mass Atrocities (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009), 14; Euan MacDonald and Philip Alston, ‘Sovereignty, Human Rights, Security: Armed Intervention and the Foundational Problem of International Law’, in Human Rights, Intervention, and the Use of Force, ed. Euan MacDonald and Philip Alston (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008): 1–31, 2; Anne Peters, ‘Humanity as the A and of Sovereignty’, European Journal of International Law 20, no. 3 (2009): 513–544.
49 Jutta Brunnée and Stephen J. Toope, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the Use of Force: Building Legality?’, Global Responsibility to Protect 2, no. 3 (2010): 191–212, 194; ICISS, The Responsibility to Protect (Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 2001); von Arnauld, ‘Souveränität und responsibility to protect’, 17.
50 ICISS, The Responsibility to Protect (Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 2001).
51 Ibid., VII.
52 Ibid.
53 von Arnauld, ‘Souveränität und responsibility to protect’, 33.
54 Wheeler, Saving Strangers, 1
55 Ibid.
56 ICISS The Responsibility to Protect (Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 2001), 13–14, 47–50.
57 United Nations, ‘Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit’ no. A/RES/60/1 (2005). http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/487/60/PDF/N0548760.pdf (accessed August 19, 2010)
58 Ibid., §138–§139.
59 Brunnée and Toope, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the Use of Force’, 197; Nigel Rodley, 'Humanitarian Intervention' in The Oxford Handbook of The Use of Force in International Law, ed. Marc Weller (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 788–792.
60 United Nations, ‘Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit’ no. A/RES/60/1 (2005). http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/487/60/PDF/N0548760.pdf (accessed August 19, 2010).
61 Alex J. Bellamy, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the problem of military intervention’, International Affairs 84, no. 4 (2008): 615–639, 616; Thomas G.Weiss, ‘Military Humanitarianism: Syria Hasn't Killed It‘, The Washington Quarterly 37, no. 1 (2014): 7–20, 15.
62 Louise Arbour, ‘Entmachtet die Großmächte’, Die ZEIT; Adrian Gallagher and Jason Ralph, ‘Syria: Can Legitimacy for Intervention be Found in a Uniting for Peace Resolution?’ (2013), BSS Leeds. http://www.bss.leeds.ac.uk/2013/09/05/syria-can-legitimacy-for-intervention-be-found-in-a-uniting-for-peace-resolution/ (accessed March 15, 2014); Sassan Gholiagha, ‘From Kosovo to Syria – Why R2P is of no use if the UN Security Council is unable to act together’ (2013), Verfassungsblog. http://www.verfassungsblog.de/en/r2p-responsibility-to-protect-syrien-sicherheitsrat-voelkerrecht/ (accessed March 15, 2014); von Arnauld, ‘Souveränität und responsibility to protect’, 35.
63 United Nations, ‘Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit’ no. A/RES/60/1 (2005). http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/487/60/PDF/N0548760.pdf (accessed August 19, 2010).
64 Interview A2: 319-323.
65 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1674’ no. S/RES/1674 (2006). http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S/RES/1674%20(2006)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC. April 28, 2006 (accessed April 30, 2006).
66 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1706’ no. S/RES/1706 (2006). http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=S/RES/1706%20(2006)&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC. 31st of August 2006 (accessed 30th August 2010).
67 Ban Ki-Moon, Implementing the Responsibility to Protect.
68 ICRtoP, ‘General Assembly Debate on the Responsibility to Protect and Informal Interactive Dialogue’ (2009), International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect. http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/index.php/component/content/article/35-r2pcs-topics/2493-general-assembly-debate-on-the-responsibility-to-protect-and-informal-interactive-dialogue- (accessed 30th August 2010).
69 Aidan Hehir, ‘The Responsibility to Protect in International Political Discourse: Encouraging Statement of Intent or Illusory Platitudes?’, The International Journal of Human Rights 15 no. 8 (2011):1331–1348.
70 Alex J. Bellamy, ‘The Responsibility to Protect—Five Years On’, Ethics & International Affairs 24 no. 2 (2010):143–169, 144.
71 Bellamy, Global Politics and The Responsibility to Protect, 68.
72 A full overview of all UN Security Council Resolutions which make references to R2P in a direct or indirect manner are available here: http://s156658.gridserver.com/media/files/unsc-resolutions-and-statements-with-r2p-table-as-of-march-2015-1.pdf (accessed 24 April 2015).
73 Marco Bünte, ‘Myanmar und die Frage der externen Intervention: Von der “Responsibility to Protect” zum humanitären Dialog’, Die Friedenswarte: Journal of International Peace and Organization 84, no. 1 (2009): 125–141; Jürgen Haacke, ‘Myanmar, the Responsibility to Protect, and the Need for Practical Assistance’, Global Responsibility to Protect 1, no. 2 (2009): 156–184; Andrew Selth, ‘Even Paranoids Have Enemies: Cyclone Nargis and Myanmar's Fears of Invasion’, Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 30, no. 3 (2008): 379–402.
74 Luke Glanville, ‘Armed Humanitarian Intervention and the Problem of Abuse After Libya’, in The Ethics of Armed Humanitarian Intervention, ed. Don E. Scheid (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014): 148–165, 156–157; Jerzey Kranz, ‘Der Kampf um den Frieden und sein besonderer Facilitator – Anmerkungen zur Georgienkrise’, Archiv des Völkerrechts 46, no. 4 (2008): 481–501; Otto Luchterhandt, ‘Völkerrechtliche Aspekte des Georgien-Krieges’, Archiv des Völkerrechts 46, no. 4 (2008): 435–480.
75 Elisabeth Lindenmayer and Josie L. Kaye, A Choice for Peace? The Story of Forty-one Days of Mediation in Kenya (New York: International Peace Institute, 2009); Monica K. Juma, ‘African Mediation of the Kenyan Post-2007 Election Crisis’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 27, no. 3 (2009): 407–430; Kirsten Ainley, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the International Criminal Court: Counteracting the Crisis’, International Affairs 91 no. 1 (2015): 37–54, 52; African Union Assembly, ‘Decision on the Situation in Kenya Following the Presidential Election of 27 December 2007’ no. Assembly/AU/Dec.187(X) (2008), African Union. http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/ASSEMBLY_EN_31_JANUARY_2_FEBRUARY_2008_AUC_TENTH_ORDINARY_SESSION_DECISIONS_AND_DECLARATIONS.pdf. November 5, 2010 (accessed 11 April 2015).
76 UNSC, ‘Resolution 2100’ (2013), United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minusma/documents/mali%20_2100_E_.pdf 25 March 2013 (accessed 24 April 2014); UNSC, ‘Resolution 2121’ (2013), United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/2121%282013%29. February 10, 2013 (accessed 24 April 2015); Ainley, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the International Criminal Court’, 51.
77 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1973’ (2011), United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf. March 17, 2011 (accessed 4 September 2014).
78 A review of the current state of R2P literature and research is provided by Sassan Gholiagha, ‘The Responsibility to Protect: Words, Deeds, and Humanitarian Interventions’, International Political Theory 10, no. 3 (2014): 361–370.
79 Stefano Guzzini, ‘A Reconstruction of Constructivism in International Relations’, European Journal of International Relations 6, no. 2 (2000): 147–182, 155; ibid.
80 Peter J. Katzenstein, ‘Introduction: Alternative Perspectives on National Security’ in The Culture of National Security. Norms and Identity in World Politics, ed. Peter J. Katzenstein (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996): 1–32, 5.
81 Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, ‘International Norm Dynamics and Political Change’, International Organization 52, no. 4 (1998) 887–917.
82 Antje Wiener, ‘Die Wende zum Dialog – Konstruktivistische Brueckenstationen und ihre Zukunft’ in Forschungsstand und Perspektiven der Internationalen Beziehungen in Deutschland, ed. Gunther Hellmann, Klaus D. Wolf and Michael Zuern (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2003), 135.
83 Gregory Flynn and Henry Farrell, ‘Piecing Together the Democratic Peace: The CSCE, Norms and the "Construction" of Security in Post-Cold War Europe’, International Organization 53, no. 3 (1999): 505–535, 510–511.
84 Cornelia Ulbert, ‘Vom Klang vieler Stimmen: Herausforderungen »kritischer« Normenforschung’, Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 19, no. 2 (2012): 132, my translation
85 Thomas Risse, Stephen C. Ropp and Kathryn Sikkink, The Power of Human Rights. International Norms and Domestic Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
86 Amitav Acharya, ‘How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism’, International Organization 58, no. 2 (2004): 239–275; Amitav Acharya, ‘Norm Subsidiarity and Regional Orders: Sovereignty, Regionalism, and Rule-Making in the Third World’, International Studies Quarterly 55, no. 1 (2011): 95–123.
87 Karin Fierke has suggested to differentiate between ‘inconsistent’ and ‘consistent’ constructivism, arguing ‘ … that within international relations “constructivism” has come to be associated with an approach that identifies a causal relationship between ideas and material relations. in This position is criticized by poststructuralists because it is overly agentic, in so far as ideas are understood to be instrumentally employed by individual actors, with insufficient attention to how these actors are constrained by a social and historical context of interaction'. Karin M. Fierke Critical Methodology and Constructivism in Constructing International Relations, in ed. Karin M. Fierke and Knud E. Jorgensen (Armonk, New York and London: M.E. Sharpe, 2001), : 115–135, 121. In her view a ‘consistent constructivism’ would be able to overcome these weaknesses by placing itself between ‘inconsistent constructivism’ and post-structural approaches. ibid., 121–122.
88 Antje Wiener, The Invisible Constitution of Politics. Contested Norms and International Encounters (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 63.
89 Antje Wiener and Uwe Puetter, ‘The Quality of Norms’, 4.
90 Antje Wiener, A Theory of Contestation (Heidelberg and New York: Springer, 2014), 3.
91 Ibid., 21.
92 Cristina G. Badescu and Thomas G. Weiss, ‘Misrepresenting R2P and Advancing Norms: An Alternative Spiral?’, International Studies Perspective 11 no. 4 (2010); Nicole Deitelhoff, ‘Scheitert die Norm der Schutzverantwortung?’; Grant Marlier and Neta C. Crawford, ‘Incomplete and Imperfect Institutionalisation of Empathy and Altruism in the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ Doctrine’, Global Responsibility to Protect 5 no. 4 (2013): 397–442, 408; Bellamy Global Politics and The Responsibility to Protect, 8.
93 Finnemore and Sikkink, ‘International Norm Dynamics and Political Change’; Risse, Ropp and Sikkink, The Power of Human Rights.
94 Bellamy Global Politics and the Responsibility to Protect; Anne Orford, International Authority and the Responsibility to Protect (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 2–3, 10.
95 Nicholas G. Onuf, World of our Making (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1989), 59.
96 Anne Orford, International Authority and the Responsibility to Project, 138.
97 Jennifer Milliken, ‘The Study of Discourse in International Relations’, European Journal of International Relations 5, no. 2 (1999): 225–254; Jennifer Milliken ‘Discourse Study: Bringing Rigor to Critical Theory’, in Constructing International Relations, ed. Karin M. Fierke and Knud E. Jorgensen (Armonk, New York and London: M.E. Sharpe, 2001), 136–159; Anna Holzscheiter, ‘Between Communicative Interaction and Structures of Signification: Discourse Theory and Analysis in International Relations’, International Studies Perspective 15, no. 2 (2014): 142–162.
98 Nicole Deitelhoff and Lisbeth Zimmermann, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire: How Different Types of Contestation Affect the Validity of International Norms’ HSFK Working Papers no. 18 (2013); HSFK. http://www.hsfk.de/fileadmin/downloads/PRIF_WP_18.pdf (accessed 15 March 2014); Sassan Gholiagha and Antje Wiener, ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (2013). http://www.verfassungsblog.de/en/schutzverantwortung-ein-politikwissenschaftlicher-blick-auf-den-voelkerrechtsteil-des-koalitionsvertrags/. 9 December 2013 (accessed 20 February 2014); Welsh, ‘Norm Contestation and the Responsibility to Protect’.
99 This often made distinction is from a critical constructivist viewpoint somewhat irrelevant as all norms are inherently contested, a legal ratification does not change this fact.
100 Anne Orford, International Authority and the Responsibility to Protect (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 106; Aidan Hehir The Responsibility to Protect (Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 29; Bellamy Global Politics and The Responsibility to Protect, 84–86.
101 Bellamy, Global Politics and The Responsibility to Protect, 162, emphasis in original.
102 Antje Wiener, ‘Enacting Meaning-in-Use. Qualitative Research on Norms and International Relations’, Review of International Studies 35, no. 1 (2009): 175–193, 180.
103 Welsh, ‘Norm Contestation and the Responsibility to Protect’.
104 For a discussion of this with regards to R2P see: Gholiagha and Wiener, ‘Responsibility to Protect’.
105 Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating, ‘How Many Approaches in the Social Sciences? An Epistemological Introduction' in Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences, ed. Donatella Della Porta and Michael Keating (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008): 19–39, 26.
106 Joachim K. Blatter, Frank Janning and Claudius Wagemann, Qualitative Politikfeldanalyse (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2007), 4.
107 See Joan W. Scott, ‘The Evidence of Experience’, Critical Inquiry 17, no. 4 (1991): 773–797, 777 for a critical discussion of the term experience
108 Ulrich Franke and Ulrich Roos, ‘Einleitung: Zu den Begriffen , Weltpolitik‘ und , Rekonstruktion’ in Rekonstruktive Methoden der Weltpolitikforschung, ed. Ulrich Franke and Ulrich Roos (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2013): 7–29, 13.
109 Uwe Flick, Ernst von Kardorff, and Ines Steinke, Theorien Qualitativer Forschung‘ in Qualitative Forschung, ed. Uwe Flick, Ernst von Kardorff and Ines Steinke (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, 2003): 106–109, 106, my translation.
110 Jan Kruse, Einführung in die qualitative Interviewforschung (unpublished manuscript, on file with author 2010), 305.
111 Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality (London: Penguin Books, 1991 [1966]).
112 Rom Harré and Luk van Langenhove, ‘The Dynamics of Social Episodes’, in Positioning Theory: Moral Contexts of Intentional Action, ed. R. Harré and L. van Langenhove (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 1999), 1–13, 6.
113 Gabriele Lucius-Hoene and Arnulf Deppermann, Rekonstruktion narrativer Identität (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2014), 196, my translation.
114 Ibid., 199, emphasis in original, my translation.
115 Jan Kruse, Qualitative Interviewforschung (Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 2014), 511; Lucius-Hoene and Deppermann, Rekonstruktion narrativer Identität, 196.
116 Kruse, Qualitative Interviewforschung, 511.
117 Rom Harré, and Luk van Langenhoven ‘The Dynamics of Social Episodes', 1; Gabriele Lucius-Hoene and Arnulf Deppermann Rekonstruktion narrativer Identität (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2014), 200.
118 I take this characterization from Patrick T. Jackson and Daniel H. Nexon, ‘Relations Before States: Substance, Process and the Study of World Politics’, European Journal of International Relations 5 no. 3 (1999): 293. They argue that, ‘[t]he majority of IR theories are substantialist – they presume that entities precede interaction, or that entities are already entities before they enter into social relations with other entities' (ibid.). Relational approaches on the contrary, do not presume this.
119 Wendy Hollway, ‘Gender Difference and the Production of Subjectivity' in Changing the Subject, ed. Julian Henriques et al. (London, New York: Methuen, 1984); Luk van Langenhoven, and Rom Harré, ‘Introducing Positioning Analysis', in Positioning Theory: Moral Contexts of Intentional Action, ed. Rom Harré and Luk van Langenhoven (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 1999): 14–31, 16.
120 Neill Korobov, ‘Reconciling Theory with Method: From Conversation Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis to Positioning Analysis’, Forum Qualitative Social Research 2, no. 3 (2001): margin number 33.
121 Kruse, Qualitative Interviewforschung, 511.
122 This term is taken from Neumann: ‘Some texts will show up as crossroads or anchor points, such as short government treaties outlining policies (called white papers in most English-speaking countries). These are called canonical texts or monuments. … It is useful to select texts around these monuments, since monuments also contain reference to other texts … ". Iver B. Neumann, ‘Discourse Analysis', in Qualitative Methods in International Relations, ed. Audie Klotz and Deepa Prakash (Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008): 61–77, 67.
123 The term discourse is broadly used within political science as well as sociology and hence a number of understandings are discussed and presented in the literature: Milliken, ‘The Study of Discourse in International Relations’; Milliken, ‘Discourse Study: Bringing Rigor to Critical Theory’; Iver B. Neumann, ‘Discourse Analysis', in Qualitative Methods in International Relations, ed. Audie Klotz and Deepa Prakash (Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008): 61–77; Reiner Keller, ‘Analysing Discourse: An Approach From the Sociology of Knowledge’, Forum Qualitative Social Research 6, no. 3 (2005); Reiner Keller, and Willy Viehöver ‘Diskursanalyse’, in Methoden der Politikwissenschaft, ed. Joachim Behnke et al. (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2006): 103–111 ; Norman Fairclough, and Ruth Wodak, ‘Critical Discourse Analysis', in Discourse as Social Interaction, ed. van Dijk, Teujn Adrianus (London: SAGE Publications, 1997): 258–285. In this article I rely on the following definition by Anna Holzscheiter, who argues that ‘ … discourse is the space where human beings make sense of the material world, where they attach meaning to the worlds and where representations of the world become manifest. The existence of a material world outside discourse is, thus, not denied – what is refuted is the assumption that we can relate to this material world without discourse. In its essence, discourse analysis is an engagement with meaning and the linguistic and communicative process through with social reality is constructed'. Holzscheiter, ‘Between Communicative Interaction and Structures of Signification’, 144.
124 As one interview partner remarked this somewhat refutes the argument that R2P was to serve as a Trojan horse for western imperialism (Interview A6: 180–182).
125 Roland Paris, ‘The “Responsibility to Protect” and the Structural Problems of Preventive Humanitarian Intervention’, International Peacekeeping 21 no. 5 (2014): 569–603, 580.
126 Interview A2: 200–202.
127 Paris, ‘The “Responsibility to Protect” and the Structural Problems of Preventive Humanitarian Intervention’, 586 ; Weiss, ‘Military Humanitarianism’, 13.
128 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, ‘Final Communique Issued By The Emergency Meeting Of The Committee Of Permanent Representatives To The Organization Of The Islamic Conference On The Alarming Developments In Libyan Jamahiriya’ (2011). Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. March 8, 2011 (accessed October 16, 2014)
129 African Union Peace and Security Council, ‘COMMUNIQUE OF THE 265th MEETING OF THE PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL’ no. PSC/PR/COMM.2 (CCLXV) (2011). African Union. http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/COMMUNIQUE_EN_10_MARCH_2011_PSD_THE_265TH_MEETING_OF_THE_PEACE_AND_SECURITY_COUNCIL_ADOPTED_FOLLOWING_DECISION_SITUATION_LIBYA.pdf. March 10, 2011 (accessed 16 October 2014).
130 Arab League, ‘The outcome of the Council of the League of Arab States meeting at the Ministerial level in its extraordinary session on the implications of the current events in Libya and the Arab position’ (2011). League of Arab States. http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/Arab%20League%20Ministerial%20level%20statement%2012%20march%202011%20-%20english%281%29.pdf. October 12, 2014 (accessed 16 October 2014).
131 Weiss, ‘Military Humanitarianism’, 13.
132 Arab League, ‘The Outcome of the Council of the League of Arab States Meeting at the Ministerial Level in its Extraordinary Session on the Implications of the Current Events in Libya and the Arab Position’ (2011). League of Arab States. http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/Arab%20League%20Ministerial%20level%20statement%2012%20march%202011%20-%20english%281%29.pdf. October 12, 2014 (accessed 16 October 2014)
133 Ibid.
134 African Union Peace and Security Council, ‘COMMUNIQUE OF THE 265th MEETING OF THE PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL’ no. PSC/PR/COMM.2(CCLXV) (2011)., African Union. http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/COMMUNIQUE_EN_10_MARCH_2011_PSD_THE_265TH_MEETING_OF_THE_PEACE_AND_SECURITY_COUNCIL_ADOPTED_FOLLOWING_DECISION_SITUATION_LIBYA.pdf. March 10, 2011 (accessed 16 October 2014), emphasis removed.
135 Ibid.
136 Arab League, ‘The outcome of the Council of the League of Arab States meeting at the Ministerial level in its extraordinary session on the implications of the current events in Libya and the Arab position’ (2011)., League of Arab States. http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/Arab%20League%20Ministerial%20level%20statement%2012%20march%202011%20-%20english%281%29.pdf. October 12, 2014 (accessed 16 October 2014).
137 Ibid.
138 Resolution 1973 recalls and takes note of the statements of the regional actors.
139 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1973’ (2011). United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf. March 17, 2011 (accessed 4 September 2014).
140 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1970’ (2011). United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1970%20%282011%29. February 26, 2011 (accessed 2 September 2014).
141 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1973’ (2011). United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf. March 17, 2011 (accessed 4 September 2014).
142 Jennifer M. Welsh, ‘Civilian Protection in Libya: Putting Coercion and Controversy Back into RtoP’, Ethics & International Affairs 25, no. 3 (2011): 255–262. Alex J. Bellamy, ‘Libya and The Responsibility to Protect: The Exception and the Norm’, Ethics & International Affairs 25, no. 3 (2011): 263–269. Wolfgang Seibel, ‘Libyen, das Prinzip der Schutzverantwortung und Deutschlands Stimmenthaltung im UN-Sicherheitsrat bei der Abstimmung über Resolution 1973 am 17. März 2011’ in Internationale Schutzverantwortung. Normative Erwartungen und Politische Praxis, ed. Christopher Daase and Julian Junk (Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2013), 87–115; Rebecca Adler-Nissen and Vincent Pouliot, ‘Power in Practice: Negotiating the International Intervention in Libya’, European Journal of International Relations 20, no. 4 (2014): 889–911.
143 UN DPI, ‘Security Council Approves ‘No-Fly Zone’ over Libya, Authorizing ‘All Necessary Measures’ to Protect Civilians, by Vote of 10 in Favour with 5 Abstentions’ no. SC/10200 (2011). UN. https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10200.doc.htm.
144 Ibid., emphasis added.
145 UN DPI, ‘Security Council Approves “No-Fly Zone” over Libya, Authorizing “All Necessary Measures” to Protect Civilians, by Vote of 10 in Favour with 5 Abstentions’ no. SC/10200 (2011). UN. https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sc10200.doc.htm; UNSC, ‘6498th Meeting’ (2011). United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6498. March 17, 2011 (accessed 16 October 2014)
146 UNSC, ‘Resolution 1973’ (2011). United Nations. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/268/39/PDF/N1126839.pdf. March 17, 2011 (accessed 4 September 2014)
147 Jutta Brunnée and Stephen J. Toope, ‘The Rule of Law in an Agnostic World: The Prohibition on the Use of Force and Humanitarian Exceptions’ in Koskenniemi and his Critics, ed. Wouter Werner, Marieke de Hoon and Alexis Galan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming); a version of this contribution is available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2547022.
148 Paris, ‘The “Responsibility to Protect” and the Structural Problems of Preventive Humanitarian Intervention’, 582.
149 Rebecca Adler-Nissen and Vincent Pouliot, ‘Power in Practice: Negotiating the International Intervention in Libya’, European Journal of International Relations 20, no. 4 (2014): 889–911, 908 ; Brunnée and Toope, ‘The Rule of Law in an Agnostic World’, 15 ; Alex J. Bellamy, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the Problem of Regime Change' in The Ethics of Armed Humanitarian Intervention, ed. Don E. Scheid (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 166; Thomas G. Weiss, ‘Military Humanitarianism’, 8 ; Tzvetan Todorov, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the War in Libya' in The Ethics of Armed Humanitarian Intervention, ed. Don E. Scheid (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 46–58, 52.
150 Ainley, ‘The Responsibility to Protect and the International Criminal Court’, 40–41; Glanville, ‘Armed Humanitarian Intervention’, 153.
151 James Pattison, ‘The Ethics of Humanitarian Intervention in Libya’, Ethics & International Affairs 25, no. 3 (2011): 271–277, 273 ; Don E. Scheid, ‘Introduction to Armed Humanitarian Intervention’, in The Ethics of Armed Humanitarian Intervention, ed. Don E. Scheid (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014): 3–25, 23–24 ; Glanville, ‘Armed Humanitarian Intervention’, 162.
152 Adler-Nissen and Pouliot have a somewhat more strategic-based explanation for the agreement: ‘In the struggle to look competent, other Council members could not counter P3 moves and resources. As one diplomat said, countries such as Russia were “skeptical at first, but they also didn't have sufficient information to say that [the P3 narrative] was a lie”.’ Rebecca Adler-Nissen and Vincent Pouliot, ‘Power in practice: Negotiating the International Intervention in Libya’, European Journal of International Relations 20, no. 4 (2014): 889–911, 901.
153 Paris, ‘The “Responsibility to Protect” and the Structural Problems of Preventive Humanitarian Intervention’, 585.
154 Matteo Capasso, ‘The Libyan Drawers: “Stateless Society”, “Humanitarian Intervention”, “Logic of Exception” and “Traversing the Phantasy”,’, Middle East Critique 23, no. 4 (2014): 387–404, 393.
155 Human Rights Council. ‘Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya’. United Nations. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session19/A.HRC.19.68.pdf (accessed 24 June 2015).
156 Bruno Schoch, ‘Die Libyen-Intervention: Warum Deutschlands Enthaltung im Sicherheitsrat falsch war’ in Libyen: Missbrauch der Responsibility to Protect?, ed. Gerhard Beestermöller (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2014), 115–138, 132.
157 Interview A2: 241
158 Kathryn Kersavage, ‘The “Responsibility to Protect” Our Answer to “Never again”?’, International Affairs Forum 5, no. 1 (2014): 23–41, 33.
159 Bassam Haddad, ‘Four Years On: Now Easy Answers in Syria (Part 1)’ (2015). http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/21117/four-years-on_no-easy-answers-in-syria-%28part-1%29. 18 March 2015 (accessed 24 April 2015).
160 Security Council Report, ‘Syria: Chronology of Events’ (2015). Security Council Report. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/syria.php. 1 April 2015 (accessed 25 April 2015)
161 Ibid.
162 Ibid.
163 President of the Security Council, ‘Statement by the President of the Security Council’ no. S/PRST/2011/16 (2011). United Nations. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Syria%20%20SPRST%202011%2016.pdf. 3 August 2011 (accessed 25 April 2015).
164 France et al., ‘Draft Resolution 04.10.2011’ (2011). http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Syria%20S2011%20612.pdf. 4 October 2011 (accessed 24 April 2015)
165 Ibid.
166 Security Council Report, ‘Syria: Chronology of Events’ (2015). Security Council Report. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/syria.php. 1 April 2015 (accessed 25 April 2015)
167 UNSC, ‘6627th meeting’ no. S/PV.6627 (2011). United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.6627. 4 October 2011 (accessed April 25, 2015)
168 Ibid., 3.
169 Ibid., 6.
170 Ibid.
171 Ibid., 7.
172 Ibid., 4.
173 Ibid., 12.
174 Bahrain, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America all co-sponsored the draft: Bahrain et al., ‘Draft Resolution’ no. S/2012/77 (2012). United Nations. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Syria%20S2012%2077.pdf. 4 February 2012 (accessed 25 April 2015).
175 Ibid.
176 Ibid.
177 Ibid.
178 UNSC, ‘6711th Meeting’ no. S/PV.7611 (2012)., United Nations. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Syria%20SPV%206711.pdf. 4 February 2012 (accessed 27 April 2015)
179 Ibid., 3–4.
180 Ibid., 5.
181 Ibid., 6.
182 Ibid., 9.
183 BBC, ‘Syria crisis: Russia and China step up warning over strike’ (2013). http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-23845800. 27 August 2013 (accessed 26 April 2015).
184 OPCW, ‘Member State – Syria’ (2015). OPWC. https://www.opcw.org/about-opcw/member-states/member-states-by-region/asia/member-state-syria/ (accessed 26 April 2015)
185 Security Council Report, ‘Syria: Chronology of Events’ (2015)., Security Council Report. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/syria.php. 1 April 2015 (accessed 25 April 2015).
186 UNSC, ‘Resolution 2118’ (2013). United Nations. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_res_2118.pdf. 27 September 2013 (accessed 26 April 2015).
187 David Miliband, ‘Syria May be Lost, But We Must Stand By its Victims’ . http://www.rescue.org/blog/david-miliband-syria-may-be-lost-we-must-stand-its-victims-commentary. 10 February 2014 (accessed 19 February 2014).
188 What's in Blue, ‘Draft Humanitarian Resolution on Syria and Briefing by Humanitarian Chief’ (2014). http://www.whatsinblue.org/2014/02/draft-humanitarian-resolution-on-syria-and-briefing-by-humanitarian-chief.php?nomobile=1. 11 February 2014 (accessed 19 February 2014); BBC. ‘Syria conflict: UN concerned over Homs detentions’. BBC. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26131742 (accessed 24 June 2015).
189 Charli Carpenter, ‘"Women, Children and Other Vulnerable Groups": Gender, Strategic Frames and the Protection of Civilians as a Transnational Issue"’, International Studies Quarterly 49, no. 2 (2005): 295–334, 296.
190 Ibid.
191 Miliband, ‘Syria May be Lost’, emphasis added.
192 Interview A2: 251, 273; Interview A3: 196–197; Interview A4: 39–40, 42, 44–46; Interview A6: 344.
193 Interview A2: 251.
194 UN DPI, ‘Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution 2139 (2014) to Ease Aid Delivery to Syrians, Provide Relief from “Chilling Darkness”.’ (2014). UN DPI. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2014/sc11292.doc.htm.
195 Brunnée and Toope, ‘The Rule of Law in an Agnostic World’, 15 ; Paris, ‘The “Responsibility to Protect” and the Structural Problems of Preventive Humanitarian Intervention’, 587.
196 UN DPI, ‘Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution 2139 (2014) to Ease Aid Delivery to Syrians, Provide Relief from ‘Chilling Darkness’’ (2014). UN DPI. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2014/sc11292.doc.htm.
197 Ibid.
198 Ibid.
199 Albania et al., ‘Draft Resolution’ no. S/2014/348 (2014). United Nations. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2014_348.pdf. 22 May 2014 (accessed 25 April 2015).
200 UNSC, ‘7180th Meeting’ no. S/PV.7180 (2014). United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.7180. 22 May 2014 (accessed 25 April 2015).
201 Secretary General, ‘Implementation of Security Council resolution 2139 (2014)’ no. S/2014/295 (2014). http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2014_295.pdf. 23 April 2015 (accessed 26 April 2014).
202 UNSC, ‘Resolution 2165’ no. S/RES/2165 (2014) (2014). United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/2165%282014%29. 14 July 2015 (accessed 26 April 2015).
203 Ibid.
204 UNSC, ‘7216th meeting’ (2014). United Nations. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.7216. 14 July 2014 (accessed 16 October 2014).
205 Security Council Report, ‘Syria: Chronology of Events’ (2015). Security Council Report. http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/chronology/syria.php. 1 April 2015 (accessed 25 April 2015).
206 Weiss, ‘Military Humanitarianism’, 18.
207 Jan Wilkens, ‘Der “Islamische Staat” und die angebliche Alternativlosigkeit in Syrien’ (2015). http://www.alsharq.de/2015/mashreq/syrien/der-islamische-staat-und-die-angebliche-alternativlosigkeit-in-syrien/. 21 March 2015 (accessed 23 March 2015).
208 Welsh, ‘Norm Contestation and the Responsibility to Protect’.
209 For a critical view on the notion of R2P as an ‘emerging norm' see Christopher Daase, ‘Die Legalisierung der Legitmität – Zur Kritik der Schutzverantwortung als emerging norm’.
210 Weiss, ‘Military Humanitarianism’.
211 Holzscheiter, ‘Between Communicative Interaction and Structures of Signification’, 144.
212 Frédéric Mégret, ‘ICC, R2P, and the International Community's Evolving Interventionist Toolkit’, Finnish Yearbook of International Law 21 (2010): 21–51, 49.
213 Annan, ‘Two Concepts of Sovereignty’, 81.
214 Peters, ‘Humanity as the A and of Sovereignty’, 535.