Europe, the United States and Global Human Rights Governance: The Responsibility to Protect in Libya and Syria

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as an international norm-in-the-making has been promoted and supported by the United States, the European Union as well as other Western countries such as Australia and Canada. After over a decade since its inception, to what extent and how is R2P becoming as globally accepted norm defining whether and how to respond to mass atrocities? In particular, to what extent are non-Western powers, notably the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) endorsing R2P? This paper explores transatlantic leadership in the promotion of R2P and its relative success in entrenching R2P at the global level by analysing the recent conflict cases of Libya and Syria.
Paper produced within the framework of the IAI project Transworld.